Sir: I was surprised and frustrated to read Ross Clark’s piece on housing associations in last week’s edition of your magazine (‘Stop moaning, start building’, 25 July). Surprised because it seemed to misrepresent the facts concerning housing associations, and frustrated because the analysis offered by Mr Clark ignores the key role that housing associations play in ending the housing crisis. Housing associations — which vary hugely in geography, size and function — have consistently supplied tens of thousands of new homes year after year. For example, last year they built 40,000 homes — a third of all new homes — and they matched every £1 of public investment with £6 of their own money. Indeed, when private development dropped 37 per cent in the crash between 2007 and 2009, housing associations continued to build and even upped their output by 22 per cent to make up the shortfall.

Housing associations are not, as per Mr Clark’s suggestion, the ‘true villains’ of the property crisis. Instead they are strong, open, positive, constructive and expert potential partners for government, willing to work together to end the housing crisis and provide the homes our country needs.David Orr
National Housing Federation, London WC1

Blame the brainwashers

Sir: Jane Kelly (‘Teenage terrors’, 25 July), citing memories of the Baader-Meinhof gang, eloquently illustrates how easily young people are drawn to extremism. Those of us who have tried over the years to support families who have lost children to cults would go further. After dealing with hundreds of tragic cases, we have concluded that anyone, approached in the right way at the right moment, can be recruited and brainwashed into turning against family and friends, espousing grotesque beliefs and putting themselves at the disposal of destructive individuals or organisations. We have always predicted that similar techniques could be used to turn people into violent criminals, and Isis has amply demonstrated this to be true.

Convincing officialdom has been an uphill struggle: it is 30 years since our Home Office found it convenient to decide that cults are ‘new religious movements’ and that brainwashing does not exist. This has handicapped government policy ever since. Now that we have a national emergency on our hands, we need to finally take action. This must include following the example of France and Belgium, and legislating to enable the identification and prosecution of the real criminals, those who ruthlessly exploit young minds for evil ends.Tom Sackville
London SW1

A towering Low Life

Sir: Jeremy Clarke recently permitted some of us the delusion that we too could be Low Life correspondents. He even praised our efforts with a generous self-deprecation. Then, in his latest column (25 July), he reasserts his authority with a tale of extreme violence. The old lion stretched, yawned and dismissed us with a mere flick of his paw. How impressive. How cruel!Stephen O’Connor
Enniskillen

Brown’s history

Sir: In his excellent article ‘Degrees in disaster’ (25 July) James Bartholomew is mistaken in implying that Gordon Brown read economics with history at Edinburgh. He only read history. Brown’s absence of any knowledge of economics was obvious to those working in the City long before he became chancellor. I am convinced that it was his knowledge of history that persuaded him to remove important powers from the governor of the Bank of England, for that great office had acted as a brake on a succession of profligate Labour chancellors. In the light of this, the consequences of his 13 years in office were entirely predictable: an economic disaster.Jeremy M.J. Havard
London SW3

Not forgetting Mbeki

Sir: James Bartholomew left out a very significant contributor to human misery in Africa: Thabo Mbeki, the former South African president, who was educated at Sussex University. His roaming of the internet persuaded him that HIV was not the cause of Aids, so his government denied antiretroviral drugs to pregnant women with Aids. The result is that South Africa is one of the few countries in Africa (if not the only one) in which the population is falling.Nigel Bruce
King’s Lynn, Norfolk

Flight plan

Sir: As a former serving officer with the Royal Air Force, I have a simple solution to solve the budget crisis in the military: scrap the RAF. All the current work can be done by the other two services. Helicopters are used mainly to support the army, and army pilots have shown that you do not need to be a commissioned officer to pilot a helicopter. The Navy has a good record of flying fast jets, and our requirement for drones can be open to tender between the Army and Navy. The RAF’s day was in the second world war, where they did valiant service. We must move on and pay for the best. RAF personnel should not be excluded from applying to the Navy and Army for the jobs that arise from the demise of their service.John Fisher
Arnside, Cumbria

Bottled laughter

Sir: Elisa Segrave’s letter (25 July) and article reminds me of my wife’s faux-pas on arrival at our new home in Canada in 1963. In those days even Canada delivered milk to our doors. My wife left a note in an empty bottle: ‘Please knock me up for the bill.’ Our friendly milkman let everybody in the apartment block see this note. My wife’s innocent colloquial English led to her rapid popularity with our neighbours.Patrick Corden
Dorchester

Sir: Ahmed Rashid refers to our ‘Arab allies’ supporting al-Qaeda (‘The plan to back al-Qaeda against Isis’, 18 July). Clearly they are no allies of ours, so thank you Mr Rashid for pointing this out. Apart from that, his perspective is peculiar. He starts off by accusing Assad of plunging Syria into a bloody civil war. Clearly that is not the case. The civil war was started by Assad’s opponents, encouraged by the ‘success’ of the Arab Spring elsewhere. Of course we now see that the ‘success’ was illusory. He also suggests that Assad is finished. Now that his ally Iran has come in from the cold, I think it is a bit early to write him off. Authoritarian regimes are not palatable to western democracies, but they are often better than the chaotic alternatives. Egypt is a safer place for its citizens than Libya or Syria. The West should work with Iran to restore Assad, or some other strong, non-Islamist government. People forget that minorities including Christians fared well under the Assad regime.Andrew LevensNorth Wiltshire

Whether Lee lied

Sir: Gavin Mortimer accuses Sir Christopher Lee of being misleading about his second world war service career when claiming to have been in ‘special forces’ (‘Who dares lies’, 18 July). It is possible that Lee was just being discreet. As an RAF liaison officer, he may have been attached to the SAS and SOE as a member of an RAF ‘Special Liaison Unit’. We now know that such people were actually answerable to MI6 and charged with disseminating Ultra — the famous signal intelligence revealed by British codebreaking. Thousands were told to keep quiet after the war about their involvement and did. Perhaps he was one of them?Stephen HodgartGuildford, Surrey

A pre-nup for Taki

Sir: It did come as something of a surprise to discover that Taki is to marry our daughter Lara (High life, 11 July). Who would have thought, when I was reading The Spectator out in New Zealand in the 1980s (in the days of the great Murray Sayle, Jeffrey Bernard and, indeed, Taki), that my daughter would one day be marrying into the clan? I suppose it would have been nice to have been informed, but that must be the way it is with modern youth.

We live not far from Chawton, where Jane Austen wrote that ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife’, and so it has proved. But with so much turmoil in Greece (and I am sure Taki won’t mind me insisting on this, in the circumstances), we will have to impose strict conditions, in particular control of the assets as collateral for the dowry. Supervision of both this and our daughter’s welfare will be as strict as anything the EU, ECB and IMF could come up with.Stephen PrendergastPetersfield, Hampshire

Refreshing phrases

Sir: David Bye (Letters, 18 July) is wrong. Nowhere in my diary (20 June) do I write anything to ‘bemoan’ the ‘infection’ of British English by Americanisms such as ‘I’m good’ instead of ‘I’m well’. My diary simply states that I am ‘surprised’ by ‘our differences in what we say and what we mean’. Often while in America I find myself delighting in, then using, a fresher vocabulary. ‘Lucked out’, ‘bad actor’ and ‘get laid’ are just three examples.Elisa SegraveLondon W11

OK croquet

Sir: Much as I respect Alexander Chancellor, I must disagree with his comments on croquet (Long life, 18 July). He refers to it as a vicious and nasty game, which has the object of bashing your opponents’ balls into the bushes. This might describe garden croquet but is a million miles away from the proper game of Association Croquet, an international sport which is played in a very gentlemanly way.Fane ConantSecretary, Church Stretton Croquet ClubShropshire

Sir: Alexander Chancellor’s article about croquet reminded me of the unlikely setting in which I learned to play it. This was the lawn in front of the RUC station in Crossmaglen, Co. Armagh, a village that would later become notorious during the Troubles. One of the sergeants was a bad loser who had an amazing vocabulary of swear words. Passing locals got quite used to this and smiled indulgently. Alexander is right, however, in saying that it is a most vicious game.J.R. McErleanElstow, Bedfordshire

Bad sport

Sir: Roger Alton is quite wrong in thinking that Nick Kyrgios is just what Wimbledon needs (Sport, 11 July). He may be a good tennis player but his display of bad manners, boorish behaviour and poor sportsmanship is not only embarrassing for Australians, but besmirches a beautiful tournament. Even his mother has said she wished he’d take a leaf out of Roger Federer’s book.Sheila BergerGuemilgen, Switzerland

Another way out

Sir: Henry Stewart does not go far enough when he suggests replacing ‘Grexit’ with ‘Grexodus’ (Letters, 18 July). ‘Grexit’ is made from two Latin words, and much better would be two Greek words making ‘Hellexodus’, which is exactly appropriate.Roderick AdamsDalkeith, Midlothian

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9588762/letters-the-assad-option-and-a-pre-nup-for-taki/feed/118 July 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9585202/letters-314/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9585202/letters-314/#commentsThu, 16 Jul 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9585202Greek cowboys Sir: In the leading article in The Spectator Australia of 11 July 2015, the editor says: “Like the black sheriff of Rock Ridge in Mel Brooks’s Blazing Saddles,… Read more

Sir: In the leading article in The Spectator Australia of 11 July 2015, the editor says: “Like the black sheriff of Rock Ridge in Mel Brooks’s Blazing Saddles, memorably bluffing a lynch mob by holding a gun to his own head, Tspiras and Varoufakis claimed they could dictate terms if the bad boys of Brussels and the IMF want to see any of their money again.” But, unlike Rock Ridge’s sheriff, you would only try a stunt like Tspiras’ and Varoufakis’ if you didn’t care about the outcome. This was not a finely-judged piece of brinkmanship, it was hooliganism on a global scale. Because of the potential for global economic instability this is not a threat just to Brussels’ and the IMF’s money – it’s a threat to everyone’s money. The euro – and the IMF’s holdings – are in effect backed by us all.Colin Webb
Perth, Western Australia

Unions led astray

Sir: Leo McKinstry’s article on the current problems in the trade unions (‘Counter-strike’, 11 July) brings back unhappy memories of the last time a similar situation arose. This was probably best known for Arthur Scargill’s attempt to use his position as head of the NUM for his own self-aggrandisment. I lived through that era and remember it well. I knew union members who were frightened of their ‘leaders’, a situation the founders of the trade union movement would have found incredible.

In 1974 I attempted to transfer my union membership to a new location. Two representatives of the local branch came to see me, and were all smiles until I mentioned I wanted to opt out of the political levy. The smiles disappeared and I found myself unable to transfer my membership. All highly illegal, but this didn’t bother them. A few months later, when I could have done with the backing that union membership would have given me, I suffered the consequences and had to change my career plans.

Thanks to Mrs Thatcher the situation improved, but not without major damage to the miners among others. The Labour party, however, paved the way for a resurgence of the union barons’ power grab, hence the current situation. Mrs Thatcher gave the unions back to their members, who failed to change the system of selecting their leaders, and here we are again.

I agree with Leo McKinstry’s suggestions for the Trades Union Bill but his attitude to the unions is wrong. It is not the unions but their ‘leaders’ who need to be brought within the rule of law.John R. HollidayBridge of Allan, Stirling

Infecting or enriching?

Sir: Your diarist Elisa Segrave (20 June) and your correspondent Peter Cardwell (Letters, 27 June) bemoan the ‘infection’ of British English by Americanisms such as ‘I’m good’ instead of ‘I’m well’. But this ‘infection’ has been going on for a considerable amount of time, and indeed many of these Americanisms have already long been part of our language. What about ‘OK’ — an American infection that has been with us for at least 150 years?

Why do we say ‘in the doghouse’ when we keep our dogs in kennels? Why do we say ‘coming out of the closet’ when our stuff is stored in cupboards? These are all infectious Americanisms which infiltrate our stuffy ‘British English’ year by year. Thank goodness they do, as they add colour to our dreary, cliché-ridden prose. What a pity we can’t be more inventive ourselves.David ByeCambridge

Grexodus, surely

Sir: As a classicist, I’m not sure I share everyone’s enthusiasm for the neologism ‘Grexit’ to describe the possible departure by the Greeks from the euro (‘Greece’s crisis turns to tragedy’, 4 July).

Exit is, of course, a word of Latin origin. Yet while educated Romans certainly used Ancient Greek, the Ancient Greeks did not use Latin (or at least not until the later Roman Empire). The Greek word for exit is exodus, so ‘Grexodus’ might be more appropriate a coinage.

The problem with exodus is that its modern usage implies exit by the many. I suspect it is that prospect — together with its whiff of rats and sinking ships — which so terrifies the architects of the single currency.
Henry Stewart
Kingham, Oxfordshire

Maths and creation

Sir: Charles Moore (Notes, 11 July) seemed unable to find a response to the question ‘What is mathematics?’ As a maths teacher, I told my students: ‘Mathematics is a search for patterns.’ Once we’ve found a particular pattern, we try to describe it as concisely as possible, in a rule or a formula.

The magic of mathematics is that the patterns, and hence the rules, crop up over and over again, in so many different spheres — from human affairs to the wondrous worlds of science and nature. It is indeed the language with which the universe was created. Whether by the gods, or not, is a question for another day.Elizabeth StampSt Dizant du Gua, France

Cannibal hedgehogs

Sir: It is arguable that badgers have been overly protected, as Sir Simon Day writes (Letters, 11 July), but it may also be that hedgehogs these days are being overly sentimentalised. In the early 1950s I was rambling with my grandfather’s Irish terrier in the meadows bordering Upper Lough Erne. The dog had got well ahead and when I caught up I saw that he had turned a hedgehog on a small hillock. Passing that way some hours later and with the dog on a rope, I could see the spot where the hedgehog had lain. Some five of the departed’s brethren were gathered together. Not in respectful assembly for their fallen brother but with their snouts slurping on his innards.Robin RobbHandbridge, Chester

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9585202/letters-314/feed/018 July 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9583762/letters-the-problem-is-not-trade-unions-but-their-leaders/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9583762/letters-the-problem-is-not-trade-unions-but-their-leaders/#commentsThu, 16 Jul 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9583762Unions led astray Sir: Leo McKinstry’s article on the current problems in the trade unions (‘Counter-strike’, 11 July) brings back unhappy memories of the last time a similar situation arose.… Read more

Sir: Leo McKinstry’s article on the current problems in the trade unions (‘Counter-strike’, 11 July) brings back unhappy memories of the last time a similar situation arose. This was probably best known for Arthur Scargill’s attempt to use his position as head of the NUM for his own self-aggrandisment. I lived through that era and remember it well. I knew union members who were frightened of their ‘leaders’, a situation the founders of the trade union movement would have found incredible.

In 1974 I attempted to transfer my union membership to a new location. Two representatives of the local branch came to see me, and were all smiles until I mentioned I wanted to opt out of the political levy. The smiles disappeared and I found myself unable to transfer my membership. All highly illegal, but this didn’t bother them. A few months later, when I could have done with the backing that union membership would have given me, I suffered the consequences and had to change my career plans.

Thanks to Mrs Thatcher the situation improved, but not without major damage to the miners among others. The Labour party, however, paved the way for a resurgence of the union barons’ power grab, hence the current situation. Mrs Thatcher gave the unions back to their members, who failed to change the system of selecting their leaders, and here we are again.

I agree with Leo McKinstry’s suggestions for the Trades Union Bill but his attitude to the unions is wrong. It is not the unions but their ‘leaders’ who need to be brought within the rule of law.John R. Holliday
Bridge of Allan, Stirling

Infecting or enriching?

Sir: Your diarist Elisa Segrave (20 June) and your correspondent Peter Cardwell (Letters, 27 June) bemoan the ‘infection’ of British English by Americanisms such as ‘I’m good’ instead of ‘I’m well’. But this ‘infection’ has been going on for a considerable amount of time, and indeed many of these Americanisms have already long been part of our language. What about ‘OK’ — an American infection that has been with us for at least 150 years?

Why do we say ‘in the doghouse’ when we keep our dogs in kennels? Why do we say ‘coming out of the closet’ when our stuff is stored in cupboards? These are all infectious Americanisms which infiltrate our stuffy ‘British English’ year by year. Thank goodness they do, as they add colour to our dreary, cliché-ridden prose. What a pity we can’t be more inventive ourselves.David Bye
Cambridge

Grexodus, surely

Sir: As a classicist, I’m not sure I share everyone’s enthusiasm for the neologism ‘Grexit’ to describe the possible departure by the Greeks from the euro (‘Greece’s crisis turns to tragedy’, 4 July).

Exit is, of course, a word of Latin origin. Yet while educated Romans certainly used Ancient Greek, the Ancient Greeks did not use Latin (or at least not until the later Roman Empire). The Greek word for exit is exodus, so ‘Grexodus’ might be more appropriate a coinage.

The problem with exodus is that its modern usage implies exit by the many. I suspect it is that prospect — together with its whiff of rats and sinking ships — which so terrifies the architects of the single currency.Henry Stewart
Kingham, Oxfordshire

Maths and creation

Sir: Charles Moore (Notes, 11 July) seemed unable to find a response to the question ‘What is mathematics?’ As a maths teacher, I told my students: ‘Mathematics is a search for patterns.’ Once we’ve found a particular pattern, we try to describe it as concisely as possible, in a rule or a formula.

The magic of mathematics is that the patterns, and hence the rules, crop up over and over again, in so many different spheres — from human affairs to the wondrous worlds of science and nature. It is indeed the language with which the universe was created. Whether by the gods, or not, is a question for another day.Elizabeth Stamp
St Dizant du Gua, France

Cannibal hedgehogs

Sir: It is arguable that badgers have been overly protected, as Sir Simon Day writes (Letters, 11 July), but it may also be that hedgehogs these days are being overly sentimentalised. In the early 1950s I was rambling with my grandfather’s Irish terrier in the meadows bordering Upper Lough Erne. The dog had got well ahead and when I caught up I saw that he had turned a hedgehog on a small hillock. Passing that way some hours later and with the dog on a rope, I could see the spot where the hedgehog had lain. Some five of the departed’s brethren were gathered together. Not in respectful assembly for their fallen brother but with their snouts slurping on his innards.Robin Robb
Handbridge, Chester

Start apologising

Sir: Following on from Rod Liddle’s article (‘You can’t take the Islam out of Islamic State’, 4 July), will those who proclaim that terrorism has ‘nothing to do with Islam’ take me seriously if I say that the Crusades, witch burnings and Northern Irish ‘Troubles’ had nothing to do with Christianity?

If not, then by their own logic they might demand that Islamic leaders start apologising as profusely for the errors of their still living co-religionists as Christian bishops do for our long dead ones.The Revd Dr Tom Plant
Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9583762/letters-the-problem-is-not-trade-unions-but-their-leaders/feed/011 July 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9579512/australian-letters-21/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9579512/australian-letters-21/#commentsThu, 09 Jul 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9579512Heavenly choir Sir: Having just read Christopher Akehurst’s article on Pope Francis’ recent Road to Damascus-like conversion to Gaiaism, he doesn’t venture an opinion as to whether in his newly-found… Read more

Sir: Having just read Christopher Akehurst’s article on Pope Francis’ recent Road to Damascus-like conversion to Gaiaism, he doesn’t venture an opinion as to whether in his newly-found enthusiasm for (cue: angelic chorus song issuing from On High…) Sustainability. if are we to expect that the Pope will now sanction birth control as a means of preventing overpopulation; that, surely being one of the greatest threats to our continued (angelic chorus repeats…) Sustainability on this planet. So we are told, anyway.David GerberEast Lindfield, NSW

Myth built on myth

Sir: Nyunggai Warren Mundine’s article in The Spectator Australia of 27 June claims ‘British colonisation was built on the myth of terra nullius’. With respect to Mr Mundine, this is patent, but still popular, nonsense. Nobody had even heard the expression until just before World War Two when a US academic lawyer sought advice from an Australian historian as to whether ‘the concept of terra nullius had any relevance to the British annexation of Australia’ as the Americans had plans for claiming territory in Anarctica. The expression then appeared briefly in a small number of Australian academic journals and papers but sprang into public prominence in 1977 when a part-Aboriginal lawyer ‘tumbled terra nullius into his High Court case against the Commonwealth government claiming restitution and compensation for Aborigines.’ The quotes are from Australian historian Michael Connor’s 2005 book The Invention of Terra Nullius (Macleay Press, Sydney) which explains all, but the concept of terra nullius being the malign justification for European occupation of Australia since Captain Cook has seized the imagination of what many in this country deride as ‘the Aboriginal industry.’ And it even had our High Court scratching their heads as to precisely what it meant.Bill DeaneChapman, ACT

The case for Daesh

Sir: For once the admirable Rod Liddle has got it completely wrong (‘You can’t take the Islam out of Islamic State’, 4 July). We absolutely shouldn’t call the homoerotic, narcissistic death cult ‘Islamic State’ — not because it offends ordinary Muslims, nor because it has nothing to do with Islam (it has everything to do with Islam) but because it legitimises and validates the preposterous project. The media has a responsibility not to run terrorist propaganda unchallenged. Politicians, including the Prime Minister, are starting to wise up to this and should be applauded for doing so. We are in an information war with our enemies. Let us take our lead from the Arabs, who understand the Middle East rather better than we do, and call them Daesh — precisely because the terrorists don’t want to be called by this pejorative word. We don’t need to be doing the terrorists’ work for them.Justin MarozziLondon NW3

Greece’s union problem

Sir: Interestingly, amid all the comment leading up to the Greek ‘No’ we heard a lot about large public-sector pensions, tax avoidance and so on in the condition of Greece, but nothing about the effect of the Greek trade unions on the Greek economy with their regular ferry, bus and rail strikes; and their protest strikes against selling off loss-making state-owned enterprises.William MillerBelfast

Navy cut

Sir: Winston Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty, was responsible for the preparation of the Royal Navy before the first world war and for its mobilisation and deployment 101 years ago on the eve of the war itself. In The World Crisis, he wrote: ‘More than a hundred years had passed since the British Navy had been called upon to face an emergency of the first magnitude. If a hundred years hence, in similar circumstances, it is found equally ready, we shall have no more reason to complain of our descendants than they will find, in the history of this convulsion, reason to complain of us.’ I fear that his descendants would disappoint him. David Cameron is treading in the steps of Baldwin and Chamberlain rather than in those of Churchill.Donald BeggLymington, Hampshire

Knives out

Sir: There has not been a ‘25 per cent rise in youth knife crime in London’ (Barometer, 27 June). In fact, knife crime in London — which includes carrying knives as well as injuries caused — is at its lowest level in seven years and deaths have fallen by a third since 2008. Every single knife death is a tragedy, and there has been a recent rise in injuries caused by knife crime, which we are taking extremely seriously. The Met’s Trident Gang Command has supported a 30 per cent reduction in knife crime across the capital since it launched in 2012. In every borough, hotspots are targeted and hundreds of potentially dangerous weapons have been recovered. We also target those most at risk of becoming involved with gangs, and have successfully lobbied for tougher sentences for those found carrying knives.

This remains a top priority for both the Mayor’s Office and the Met. We are spending more than £6.8 million this year on prevention, focused deterrence and enforcement action to tackle the scourge of knife crime on the streets of London.Stephen Greenhalgh Deputy Mayor for Policing And CrimeLondon SE1

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9579512/australian-letters-21/feed/011 July 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9577352/spectator-letters-the-case-for-saying-daesh-a-political-shibboleth-and-irelands-greatest-distinction/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9577352/spectator-letters-the-case-for-saying-daesh-a-political-shibboleth-and-irelands-greatest-distinction/#commentsThu, 09 Jul 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9577352The case for Daesh Sir: For once the admirable Rod Liddle has got it completely wrong (‘You can’t take the Islam out of Islamic State’, 4 July). We absolutely shouldn’t… Read more

Sir: For once the admirable Rod Liddle has got it completely wrong (‘You can’t take the Islam out of Islamic State’, 4 July). We absolutely shouldn’t call the homoerotic, narcissistic death cult ‘Islamic State’ — not because it offends ordinary Muslims, nor because it has nothing to do with Islam (it has everything to do with Islam) but because it legitimises and validates the preposterous project. The media has a responsibility not to run terrorist propaganda unchallenged. Politicians, including the Prime Minister, are starting to wise up to this and should be applauded for doing so. We are in an information war with our enemies. Let us take our lead from the Arabs, who understand the Middle East rather better than we do, and call them Daesh — precisely because the terrorists don’t want to be called by this pejorative word. We don’t need to be doing the terrorists’ work for them.Justin MarozziLondon NW3

Spotting a shibboleth

Sir: In his lament on the cultural effects of the recent heatwave, Charles Moore decries the ‘grim word vibrant’ (Notes, 4 July). I’ve noticed that left-wing friends use the same word entirely positively.

In view of the recent failings of opinion polling, could reactions to this word be used as an alternative way of measuring political opinion and voting intention?Dr James HinksmanCanterbury, Kent

Greece’s union problem

Sir: Interestingly, amid all the comment leading up to the Greek ‘No’ we heard a lot about large public-sector pensions, tax avoidance and so on in the condition of Greece, but nothing about the effect of the Greek trade unions on the Greek economy with their regular ferry, bus and rail strikes; and their protest strikes against selling off loss-making state-owned enterprises.William MillerBelfast

Navy cut

Sir: Winston Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty, was responsible for the preparation of the Royal Navy before the first world war and for its mobilisation and deployment 101 years ago on the eve of the war itself. In The World Crisis, he wrote: ‘More than a hundred years had passed since the British Navy had been called upon to face an emergency of the first magnitude. If a hundred years hence, in similar circumstances, it is found equally ready, we shall have no more reason to complain of our descendants than they will find, in the history of this convulsion, reason to complain of us.’ I fear that his descendants would disappoint him. David Cameron is treading in the steps of Baldwin and Chamberlain rather than in those of Churchill.Donald BeggLymington, Hampshire

Knives out

Sir: There has not been a ‘25 per cent rise in youth knife crime in London’ (Barometer, 27 June). In fact, knife crime in London — which includes carrying knives as well as injuries caused — is at its lowest level in seven years and deaths have fallen by a third since 2008. Every single knife death is a tragedy, and there has been a recent rise in injuries caused by knife crime, which we are taking extremely seriously. The Met’s Trident Gang Command has supported a 30 per cent reduction in knife crime across the capital since it launched in 2012. In every borough, hotspots are targeted and hundreds of potentially dangerous weapons have been recovered. We also target those most at risk of becoming involved with gangs, and have successfully lobbied for tougher sentences for those found carrying knives.

This remains a top priority for both the Mayor’s Office and the Met. We are spending more than £6.8 million this year on prevention, focused deterrence and enforcement action to tackle the scourge of knife crime on the streets of London.Stephen Greenhalgh Deputy Mayor for Policing And CrimeLondon SE1

Hedgehogs vs badgers

Sir: The other evening I had just let my Border terrier out when I heard a furious barking. When I went to discover what was going on, I saw a hedgehog rolled into a ball. This is the first hedgehog I have seen in our garden for many years, and I was delighted. One of the chief reasons for the decimation of hedgehogs has been the dramatic growth in badger numbers. I well remember a great friend of mine, the late Ted Hughes, telling me that one night he had heard a frightful screaming outside his window. There he found a badger disembowelling a hedgehog.

I like badgers but they have been overly protected by the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, which was brought in to stop badger-baiting. There are now far too many of them and they devour leverets, nesting birds and anything that comes their way. Irrespective of TB, farmers should have the right to dispatch them humanely. The BBC’s Springwatch programme regularly ignores the fact that badgers kill hedgehogs, although to its credit, it did show a badger scoffing the chicks of one of our rarest birds, the avocet. The BBC should get their act together and not merely play to the urban vote.Sir Simon DayIvybridge, Devon

Better than a Nobel

Sir: Dr Furlong is quite right to point out that the Irish are four-time winners of the Nobel Prize for literature (Letters, 27 June). Of far greater importance however, is our having won Eurovision an astonishing seven times. Being Irish can often be a unique form of misery, but I always take solace from the fact that I am from the same country as Johnny Logan, the only person ever to have won Eurovision twice.Tristan O’DwyerBarking, London

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9577352/spectator-letters-the-case-for-saying-daesh-a-political-shibboleth-and-irelands-greatest-distinction/feed/104 July 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9572122/right-of-reply/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9572122/right-of-reply/#commentsThu, 02 Jul 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9572122Response to Michael Easson Sir: I have been afforded an opportunity to respond to the review of my book “The Case for Palestine”, which review was written by Mr. Michael… Read more

Sir: I have been afforded an opportunity to respond to the review of my book “The Case for Palestine”, which review was written by Mr. Michael Easson and published in The Spectator Australia in its May edition.

Easson asserts that mine is a “simplistic depiction of deeply complex problems”. I have found over forty years of observation that apologists for Israel like to assert “deeply complex problems”. In this way they seek to deter people from putting in an effort to understand what is a simple case of theft and ethnic cleansing.

Easson is critical of what he describes as “(t)wo egregious clangers” – factual errors. The first is the description of Kerensky as a “Jewish Bolshevik”. I did not use the term “Jewish Bolshevik” and don’t like to be misquoted. I certainly indicated that Kerensky was Jewish. I described Trotsky as a Bolshevik. I have re-visited my source as to Kerensky’s Jewishness. Further research indicates that the claim that he was a Jew is contested. Whilst accepting that, it is a fact of monumental insignificance in respect of the book as whole. As to the other matter, no half well-read reader would have thought for one moment that I was presenting Kerensky as a Bolshevik.

The second matter pertains to Sir Raphael Cilento. I stand by my suggestion that his career was ended for his having opposed the creation of the State of Israel. For Mr. Eassom to describe him as a Holocaust denier is a gross libel on him and his family. He was the first civilian doctor to enter Belsen concentration camp after its liberation. There is no suggestion of his ever having denied the Holocaust.

Eassom takes pains to misrepresent my book. I did not suggest that Israel could not build a wall to protect itself from attacks. I said – as did the International Court of Justice – that they could not do so on Palestinian land. Moreover, it is neither impossible nor unrealistic to expect them to demolish it where it does infringe – which is virtually everywhere. No less would be expected by me of my next-door neighbour if he built his fence two metres inside my property.

Eassom calls my claim that Ashkenazi Jews are descended in large part from the Khazars as ‘discredited’. I would ask “discredited by whom?” I would invite Mr. Eassom to provide me with his source – and trust that it is not the Israeli Ministry of Information.

Eassom suggests that I have “dismissed (Martin Indyk) as a Zionist”. I might be forgiven for having done so knowing that Indyk worked for twelve years for AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee), the principal lobbyist for Israel in Congress.

It is suggested that I am ignorant of “the debate within Israel about the wrongs associated with Israel’s early years”. I am not at all ignorant of the fact that some historians have felt forced to face up to those wrongs rather than allow misrepresentation to continue. Nor am I ignorant of wrongs in later years – in fact right up to the present day.

Eassom speaks of “the controversy over settlements”. What controversy might that be? Is it suggested that there is something controversial about this conduct which is patently illegal in international law and recognized throughout the world as such? Eassom suggests that what is needed is “Palestinians and Israelis living alongside each other”. Does he not understand that that is exactly what Israel, and particularly the recently elected government, does not want and demands will never occur?

My suggestion is that The Spectator Australia identify a more appropriate and less emotional reviewer than this “crank”.P. Heywood–Smith QC

Australian letters

18 Carta

Sir: Normally I would have no issue with Attorney General George Brandis penning a diary column (Spectator Australia 27 June 2015).

But to have Brandis, of all people, waxing lyrical on Magna Carta’s 800th would seem a poor choice. Brandis’ miserable 18C performance when he presented arguments so ill conceived that he even assisted his opponents marks the man as being unsuited to carry the freedom banner.

There’s a long list of others with far greater credibility in the freedom of speech debate who would have been eminently suitable to celebrate the freedoms spawned by the Magna Carta .Chris Harrington
St Ives, NSW

How to fix Detroit

Sir: When I last flew over my native Detroit five years ago, vast tracts of it still resembled Machu Picchu. From the ground, it was little better; in what had been a prosperous Italian-American neighbourhood when I lived there in 1964, there were only five houses left standing. Stephen Bayley (Arts, 27 June) marvels that ‘You could buy an entire house for $10,000’ — but in truth the taxes needed to support Detroit’s notoriously corrupt governments are so high that you can’t give them away unless they are in one of the few islands colonised by the middle classes. Indeed, the city filed for bankruptcy in 2013, with debts estimated at around $20 billion.

I have no problem with gentrification, and I’ve done a fair bit of it myself. However, Bayley is naive if he thinks that this will solve Detroit’s problems, or that Burnley and Bradford can be rescued by Audis, Ocado and fashionable architects. For a much better understanding of the systemic ills of urban governance, I recommend The Wealth of Cities by John Norquist, the former mayor of Milwaukee. Rather than using federal funds to finance prestige projects, he slashed public spending and eliminated oppressive regulation. At the same time, he reformed public services and introduced school choice. This has attracted an impressive array of new investment, and Milwaukee is now home to a disproportionate number of Fortune 500 companies and sunrise industries. By all accounts, it is also a very civilised place to live for all social classes.Prof. Tom Burkard
Easton, Norfolk

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9572122/right-of-reply/feed/04 July 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9571132/spectator-letters-how-detroit-can-really-be-fixed/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9571132/spectator-letters-how-detroit-can-really-be-fixed/#commentsThu, 02 Jul 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9571132How to fix Detroit Sir: When I last flew over my native Detroit five years ago, vast tracts of it still resembled Machu Picchu. From the ground, it was little… Read more

Sir: When I last flew over my native Detroit five years ago, vast tracts of it still resembled Machu Picchu. From the ground, it was little better; in what had been a prosperous Italian-American neighbourhood when I lived there in 1964, there were only five houses left standing. Stephen Bayley (Arts, 27 June) marvels that ‘You could buy an entire house for $10,000’ — but in truth the taxes needed to support Detroit’s notoriously corrupt governments are so high that you can’t give them away unless they are in one of the few islands colonised by the middle classes. Indeed, the city filed for bankruptcy in 2013, with debts estimated at around $20 billion.

I have no problem with gentrification, and I’ve done a fair bit of it myself. However, Bayley is naive if he thinks that this will solve Detroit’s problems, or that Burnley and Bradford can be rescued by Audis, Ocado and fashionable architects. For a much better understanding of the systemic ills of urban governance, I recommend The Wealth of Cities by John Norquist, the former mayor of Milwaukee. Rather than using federal funds to finance prestige projects, he slashed public spending and eliminated oppressive regulation. At the same time, he reformed public services and introduced school choice. This has attracted an impressive array of new investment, and Milwaukee is now home to a disproportionate number of Fortune 500 companies and sunrise industries. By all accounts, it is also a very civilised place to live for all social classes.Prof. Tom Burkard
Easton, Norfolk

Choose heroes carefully

Sir: The problem with hypocrisy, particularly when it is exhibited by a ‘hero’, is that it leaves one feeling cheated — (‘Champions of hypocrisy’, 27 June). It isn’t only sports people who are guilty. As a young man I read as much George Orwell as I could and found it hard to disagree with a word that he wrote. It only occurred to me later in life that his expressed wish to have no biography written might not be entirely due to modesty. He was undoubtedly a great thinker and an outstanding writer, but as D.J. Taylor’s biography illustrates, he was not averse to twisting the odd fact to bolster his myth. My advice to my children? If you are going to have heroes, be careful who you choose. You will probably turn out to be better people than they are.Ron Ball
Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire

Girls will be girls

Sir: We know it is fashionable these days to suggest that men are women and women are men. But despite Taki’s concerns (High Life, 27 June), we can assure him that the young ladies of The Spectator are indeed ladies. Taki wonders why he has never seen us cry or fall in love; we can assure him that our tears do fall and our hearts do flutter — just not for him. (Yet.)Some young ladies of The Spectator
London SW1

Dog or child?

Sir: Melissa Kite (Real life, 27 June) is spot on with her description of middle-class dog owners and their pooches. Monty the Jack Russell and I often come across coffee-sipping mums while walking through Hackney. When they tell ‘Oscar’ to ‘come back’ I wonder whether it’s their over-excitable labrador or scooter-riding child being called. Sadly, I never find out because both are so disobedient that most of the time they don’t even bother to turn around.Laura Atkins
London E17

The moral universe

Sir: The natural explanation of why bits of our universe have evolved to be conscious, loving, moral, purposeful, creative and free (Letters, 27 June) is that societies with those characteristics have a better chance of survival than those that lack them. But, as the life of Genghis Khan reviewed in the same issue shows, they do so only when they are willing to defend themselves. An advanced society that allows itself to be invaded, by force or fraud, by an ignorant, cruel, corrupt, destructive and enslaved society will not remain advanced.John Hart
Chelmsford, Essex

Seas of liberty

Sir: Steve Hilton’s argument about the virtues of the Glastonbury festival (Arts, 20 June), applies very clearly to sailing. As a yacht owner for 15 years, it’s noticeable how the lack of state regulation and meddling results in neighbourly behaviour, courtesy and self-policing, and makes for a pleasant antidote to the modern world.Fred Vonck
London SW4

The wonder of Rieu

Sir: Melissa Kite has struck a welcome chord in her article on André Rieu (‘Oh André!’, 27 June), which will delight his many fans. Just as important is the fact that André Rieu has become a force for good internationally, in the same way as the evangelist Billy Graham some years ago. With television channels competing to show ever more horrifying horrors, Rieu’s programmes are a breath of fresh air.Peter Spira
London W14

Final form

Sir: I completely relate to Mark Mason’s antipathy towards customer satisfaction surveys (‘Poor form’, 27 June). I had a similar ghastly experience last December when I was in a hospital in Calcutta. My grandfather had passed away, and I had to complete some formalities before the family could take the body away for cremation. I was surprised to find a customer satisfaction survey hidden among the documents. It seemed clear that it was intended to be filled by a patient leaving the hospital having been cured, but nobody had thought to remove it.
Tirthankar Dubey
London EC4

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9571132/spectator-letters-how-detroit-can-really-be-fixed/feed/1227 June 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9566932/letters-313/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9566932/letters-313/#commentsThu, 25 Jun 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9566932Hidden Reids Sir: In his piece on Alan Reid Peter Coleman has asked if there are other hidden works on Australian politics waiting to be discovered. There certainly are. Initial… Read more

Sir: In his piece on Alan Reid Peter Coleman has asked if there are other hidden works on Australian politics waiting to be discovered. There certainly are. Initial and perhaps unexpurgated versions of Reid’s three great works on the Gorton and Whitlam years, beginning with Power Struggle, still exist. The National Library or the Mitchell Library would do well if they could ensure that, after due consultation with their current owners, these items ended up safely in a good library.Stephen Holt
Macquarie, Act, Australia

Free trade with Africa

Sir: Nicholas Farrell suggests that a naval blockade is the only solution to Italy’s immigration crisis (‘The invasion of Italy’, 20 June). Examining the causes of the situation might identify other measures.

Since the European Union effectively closed its borders to trade with Africa to protect European farmers from lower food prices, the agricultural economies of most African countries have been in decline.

Of course there is another reason for Africa’s decline. About 60 years ago, the Europeans found it convenient to convince themselves that in Africa self-government was better than good government. It followed that aid would be a convenient substitute for the risks or inconveniences of free trade. But the African dictators who emerged soon after were able to finance their corrupt and callous regimes on the beneficence of European taxpayers. Their own countries’ tax revenues were of no consequence and they dwindled.

Surely, therefore, what the EU needs to do is open its borders to free trade with Africa. This would be a first step towards the revival of Africa’s agricultural industries. Aid in all its forms should be denied to dictators (even those sheltering behind democratic facades), which will force them into policies beneficial to the revival of their own tax revenues. The loss of Europe’s common agricultural policy would be a small price to pay for the folly of African policies of the past. Free trade and no aid might not be popular, but it could benefit both Africans and Europeans.Nigel Bruce
King’s Lynn, Norfolk

Take Hong Kong

Sir: It is not entirely true to say that ‘currency unions do not work unless there is full political and economic union’ (Leading article, 20 June). Ever since 1983, Hong Kong has prospered while being effectively in currency union with the United States via a strict currency board mechanism. There is no trace of wider economic, let alone political union. The arrangement succeeds for Hong Kong because its economy has the flexibility, downwards as well as upwards, in wages and prices that enables external competitiveness to adjust without resort to exchange-rate adjustment, and because it is accepted that the resultant variability of prices is preferable to being exposed to potentially more volatile movements in the exchange rate.

The euro is in distress because the participant economies lack such structural flexibility, particularly in the context of downward cost adjustments (at least until far too late in the day). No amount of fiscal convergence and discipline, about which the euro’s architects have been so obsessive, is a sufficient substitute, even if it could be achieved.Tony Latter
Harrogate, North Yorkshire

Glastonbury Hilton

Sir: Steve Hilton (Arts, 20 June) fears that Spectator readers will not forgive him for writing in praise of the Glastonbury festival, which he has attended ‘off and on for more than 20 years’. On the contrary. The many Spectator readers who enjoyed our first Glastonbury 25 or more years ago have reason to be grateful to him. He has given us valuable new information about when, and perhaps why, the festival lost its edge.Nicholas Rogers
Grantham, Lincolnshire

Ireland’s Nobel quartet

Sir: In Taki’s lather of support for his birthplace (High life, 13 June), he tells us that Greece is ‘the only small western European nation to win two Nobel Prizes for literature’. Try Ireland, with four: Yates, Shaw, Beckett and Heaney. I fear the excitement of the forthcoming Spectator cruise may have caused this uncharacteristic lapse.Dr Carol Furlong
Stanford on Soar, Leicestershire

Too clever by half

Sir: Toby Young is right that intellectuals don’t make good politicians (Status anxiety, 13 June). In a miniature version of Michael Ignatieff’s political failure in Canada, I was recruited to become leader of the Act Party of New Zealand in early 2014, a party with a proud history and 20 years of unbroken representation in parliament. In one of my first interviews as leader I was asked if, given my libertarian views, I thought the government was wrong to ban siblings from marrying. I cleverly answered that indeed it was. At the general election in September I pulled off what James Delingpole would call ‘an epic fail’. Shortly after the defeat I was contacted by a journalist seeking my opinions about life as a public intellectual.Jamie Whyte
Auckland, New Zealand

Are you good?

Sir: Elisa Segrave (Diary, 20 June) correctly identifies the American saying ‘I’m good’, which apparently means: ‘I’m OK, thanks.’ It has, sadly, now infected British English. The only reasonable response when British people erroneously say ‘I’m good’ when you enquire as to their health is to reply: ‘I’ll be the judge of that.’Peter Cardwell
London W6

Sir: Nicholas Farrell suggests that a naval blockade is the only solution to Italy’s immigration crisis (‘The invasion of Italy’, 20 June). Examining the causes of the situation might identify other measures.

Since the European Union effectively closed its borders to trade with Africa to protect European farmers from lower food prices, the agricultural economies of most African countries have been in decline.

Of course there is another reason for Africa’s decline. About 60 years ago, the Europeans found it convenient to convince themselves that in Africa self-government was better than good government. It followed that aid would be a convenient substitute for the risks or inconveniences of free trade. But the African dictators who emerged soon after were able to finance their corrupt and callous regimes on the beneficence of European taxpayers. Their own countries’ tax revenues were of no consequence and they dwindled.

Surely, therefore, what the EU needs to do is open its borders to free trade with Africa. This would be a first step towards the revival of Africa’s agricultural industries. Aid in all its forms should be denied to dictators (even those sheltering behind democratic facades), which will force them into policies beneficial to the revival of their own tax revenues. The loss of Europe’s common agricultural policy would be a small price to pay for the folly of African policies of the past. Free trade and no aid might not be popular, but it could benefit both Africans and Europeans.Nigel Bruce
King’s Lynn, Norfolk

Take Hong Kong

Sir: It is not entirely true to say that ‘currency unions do not work unless there is full political and economic union’ (Leading article, 20 June). Ever since 1983, Hong Kong has prospered while being effectively in currency union with the United States via a strict currency board mechanism. There is no trace of wider economic, let alone political union. The arrangement succeeds for Hong Kong because its economy has the flexibility, downwards as well as upwards, in wages and prices that enables external competitiveness to adjust without resort to exchange-rate adjustment, and because it is accepted that the resultant variability of prices is preferable to being exposed to potentially more volatile movements in the exchange rate.

The euro is in distress because the participant economies lack such structural flexibility, particularly in the context of downward cost adjustments (at least until far too late in the day). No amount of fiscal convergence and discipline, about which the euro’s architects have been so obsessive, is a sufficient substitute, even if it could be achieved.Tony Latter
Harrogate, North Yorkshire

Glastonbury Hilton

Sir: Steve Hilton (Arts, 20 June) fears that Spectator readers will not forgive him for writing in praise of the Glastonbury festival, which he has attended ‘off and on for more than 20 years’. On the contrary. The many Spectator readers who enjoyed our first Glastonbury 25 or more years ago have reason to be grateful to him. He has given us valuable new information about when, and perhaps why, the festival lost its edge.Nicholas Rogers
Grantham, Lincolnshire

Ireland’s Nobel quartet

Sir: In Taki’s lather of support for his birthplace (High life, 13 June), he tells us that Greece is ‘the only small western European nation to win two Nobel Prizes for literature’. Try Ireland, with four: Yates, Shaw, Beckett and Heaney. I fear the excitement of the forthcoming Spectator cruise may have caused this uncharacteristic lapse.Dr Carol Furlong
Stanford on Soar, Leicestershire

Too clever by half

Sir: Toby Young is right that intellectuals don’t make good politicians (Status anxiety, 13 June). In a miniature version of Michael Ignatieff’s political failure in Canada, I was recruited to become leader of the Act Party of New Zealand in early 2014, a party with a proud history and 20 years of unbroken representation in parliament. In one of my first interviews as leader I was asked if, given my libertarian views, I thought the government was wrong to ban siblings from marrying. I cleverly answered that indeed it was. At the general election in September I pulled off what James Delingpole would call ‘an epic fail’. Shortly after the defeat I was contacted by a journalist seeking my opinions about life as a public intellectual.Jamie Whyte
Auckland, New Zealand

Are you good?

Sir: Elisa Segrave (Diary, 20 June) correctly identifies the American saying ‘I’m good’, which apparently means: ‘I’m OK, thanks.’ It has, sadly, now infected British English. The only reasonable response when British people erroneously say ‘I’m good’ when you enquire as to their health is to reply: ‘I’ll be the judge of that.’Peter Cardwell
London W6

Answers on a postcard…

Sir: Stan Labovitch claims that ‘science offers natural explanations for the origin of the universe and the evolution of life’ (Letters, 20 June). I am delighted to hear it. I have often wondered why it is that a rationally intelligible universe exploded out of nothing to form stars, planets, and life; and why bits of it became conscious, loving, rational, moral, purposeful, creative and free. What are the ‘natural explanations’ for all that?Keith Gilmour
Glasgow

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9564762/spectator-letters-free-trade-and-africas-migrant-crisis/feed/420 June 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9559242/letters-booming-churches-brilliant-swedes-and-who-gets-the-vc/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9559242/letters-booming-churches-brilliant-swedes-and-who-gets-the-vc/#commentsThu, 18 Jun 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9559242Growing congregations Sir: I would like to take issue with Damian Thompson (‘Crisis of faith’, 13 June) and his assertions that England’s churches are in deep trouble. Last Saturday 250… Read more

Sir: I would like to take issue with Damian Thompson (‘Crisis of faith’, 13 June) and his assertions that England’s churches are in deep trouble. Last Saturday 250 Christians ranging in age from zero to 80, from two independent and orthodox local churches in Lancaster and Morecambe, met in a school to sing, pray, and hear preaching about Jesus Christ — this as well as our normal Sunday services. We believe we are doing what the Bible tells us to: preaching the good news of Christ from the pages of the Bible — and our churches are growing. Indeed, we can testify to growth in many local churches in the UK (whether independent or within a denomination).Gerry Straker
Pastor, Church by the Bay, Morecambe

Inevitable decline

Sir: The decline of Christianity in a freethinking country like Britain is the inevitable result of God giving man the free will to discover that he doesn’t exist. In an age when science offers natural explanations for the origin of the universe and the evolution of life, it is perhaps a sign of intellectual maturity that fewer people have the need to believe in the supernatural. The problem is what takes its place: new-age religion, atheism or Islam?Stan Labovitch
Windsor, Berkshire

Hugo, do you read me?

Sir: Hugo Rifkind rightly attacks David Cameron’s intervention in Libya (13 June). Then he repeatedly asserts that ‘nobody’ ridicules the Prime Minister’s arrogance or seems to care about it, and asks if Gaddafi could have been dealt with another way.

Nobody? Well, I agree I only did so in what is now Britain’s biggest-selling Sunday newspaper, but on 20 March 2011 I wrote that we had no business in Libya and no idea what we hoped to achieve, and knew nothing about the Libyan rebels. I said our national interests would be better served by staying out. On 24 April I complained about the absence of high-level criticism of Mr Cameron’s Libya policy. On 31 July I mocked William Hague, then Foreign Secretary, for recognising a rabble government. On 11 September I disclosed that members of Mr Cameron’s government had been on gushing ‘Brother Leader’ terms with Gaddafi as late as November 2010. In June 2012 I pointed out that Libya was a failed state with gangster militias and secret prisons. In September 2013, I complained that ‘hardly anyone’ (not ‘nobody’) was paying attention to the unfolding disaster.

These are just some of many references I made. Nor was I alone. Several other British writers have drawn attention to this catastrophe. The problem has been in the small and rather narrow circle of fashionable metropolitan journalism, which has indeed failed to examine this and other failings of a government which deserves far more criticism, at home and abroad, than it actually gets.Peter Hitchens
London W8

In the beginning…

Sir: David Cameron and Edward Llewellyn did not begin their happy days together in the Conservative Research Department ‘more than 30 years ago’, as James Forsyth asserts (Politics, 13 June). It was in 1985 that Llewellyn, then an Oxford undergraduate, decided that he wanted to join the department, having helped me edit a collection of Mrs Thatcher’s speeches (the unfortunate volume contained an error and she disowned it). Nevertheless, when he was appointed in early 1988 he soon made his mark with Mrs T in the most testing of briefing assignments, Europe. Cameron, who arrived a few months later, made no impression on her, looking completely blank when she asked him for the jobless figures (he was the department’s employment desk officer at the time). Llewellyn seemed the more ambitious of the two. No one could then have predicted their future partnership, or the shape of it.Alistair Lexden
House of Lords, London SW1

Swede success

Sir: I am sorry to dispute Taki’s claims of Greek greatness (13 June) but — assuming that a small western European nation is measured in population — his assertion that ‘only Greece has two Nobel laureates in literature’ doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

My research gave me Swedes in 1909, 1916, 1931, 1951, 1966 (a Swede who was born in Germany), 1974 (two joint Swedish winners) and 2011. Switzerland also has two, although, like one of the Swedes, one of the Swiss was born in Germany.Mike Walsh
Espoo, Finland

Who takes the VC

Sir: While I agree with Allan Mallinson in his review of Gary Mead’s Victoria’s Cross (Books, 6 June) that a better way of identifying those worthy of the award of a VC is needed, asking regiments to nominate does not always work. Lieutenant Colonel Deacon, who commanded the 61st (South Gloucestershire) Regiment during the Siege of Delhi, would not recommend any man for the VC. He said ‘every man did his duty and if a man received the VC his comrades would be jealous’. There is a tradition that when all regiments were asked to nominate two members for the VC, the soldiers of the 61st, agreeing with their colonel, nominated their brave native water-carriers instead. Nothing more was heard.Robin Grist
Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum, Gloucester

Dear Mary’s buttons

Sir: Robert Vincent asks why the top worn by ‘Dear Mary’ is buttoned the wrong way (Letters, 13 June). May I suggest an explanation? The function of Mary — whomever she may be behind the signifier — is to hold up a mirror to the everyday human experience. Perhaps this accounts for the inverse perception of her blouse?William Gunson
Oundle, Northants

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9559242/letters-booming-churches-brilliant-swedes-and-who-gets-the-vc/feed/113 June 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9553922/spectator-letters-allan-massie-on-the-fbi-christopher-booker-on-graffiti/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9553922/spectator-letters-allan-massie-on-the-fbi-christopher-booker-on-graffiti/#commentsThu, 11 Jun 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9553922The long arm of the FBI Sir: The White House may be less willing than it was to play the role of the world’s policeman in international affairs, but the… Read more

Sir: The White House may be less willing than it was to play the role of the world’s policeman in international affairs, but the FBI seems eager to be the world’s cop. No doubt, as Martin Vander Weyer has noted (Any other business, 6 May), the US Attorney General has been ‘careful to assert that many of the allegedly corrupt schemes of the Fifa officials so far arrested were planned in the US, and that US banking and “wire” services were used.’ Still, we are told that the FBI is also investigating matters such as the award of the next two world cups to Russia and Qatar, where there is no evident US involvement.

Charles Moore, reflecting on the manner in which Fifa officials were arrested in a dawn raid on their hotel in Zurich (Notes, 6 June), sensibly asks whether we ‘are really satisfied that the US authorities should behave in this way outside their jurisdiction’. Are we? Has the FBI suddenly acquired extra-territorial authority? If so, when and by whose leave? And is the FBI’s record so clean that we should welcome such a development?Allan Massie
Selkirk, Scotland

Fall of the Brussels empire

Sir: Neither James Forsyth (6 June) nor David Cameron should worry too much about the outcome of the promised EU referendum. It will not yet have dawned upon the Brussels bureaucrats or the politicos that all empires end in tears, through arrogance, greed, incompetence, or simply becoming too big for their boots. This monstrous European empire will, in due course, go the way of all others. It will be brought down by tensions between East and West, prosperous states and poor ones; between the eurozone and those outside it, between Schengen and non-Schengen areas — and because it never listens to its ‘citizens’. In every single member state the citizens expressing anti-EU sentiment has grown by at least 20 per cent in the past few years. I give it a generation at most.Dr Derek Hawes
Mylor Bridge, Cornwall

Council development

Sir: As Charles Moore indicates (Notes, 6 June), my former Conservative Research Department employee, Edward Llewellyn, will not lack for company as a member of the Privy Council. He has no fewer than 663 colleagues. The ancient institution has grown by 57 per cent as a result of appointments under Blair, Brown and Cameron. The last is using it to give pleasure to rank-and-file Tory MPs, who were rarely nominated in the past. Under the Queen’s grandfather, George V, they were debarred. The entire Council meets on the accession of a monarch. At the current rate of increase, the Albert Hall will be needed when a new reign begins.Alistair Lexden
House of Lords, London SW1

Fond hearts in the forces

Sir: I reach a different conclusion from Lord Tebbit regarding the success of military marriages (Letters, 6 May). Members of the armed forces spend much time away from their spouses and this, my experience teaches me, is the main contribution to a happy relationship.Charles D. Wroe
Brighton

Graffiti wisdom

Sir: As a regular user of the rail service into London from the West Country, I too was beguiled by that legendary line-side graffito, ‘Faraway is close at hand in images of elsewhere’ (Books, 6 June) — until I realised that it really described nothing better than a brochure for a cruise line.Christopher Booker
Litton, Somerset

Crazy omission

Sir: Much as I enjoyed Philip Delves Broughton’s account of the wackier presidential candidates (‘Running wild’, 6 June), I was sad that he left out the gloriously bonkers Alan Keyes, who once challenged Obama for the senatorship of Ohio and ran three presidential campaigns. He would tell his opponents that they did not have Jesus Christ’s vote, and that he would happily campaign from a bus shelter even as it emerged that he had been paying himself $8, 500 a month from his electioneering fund. After one spectacularly bad campaign, Keyes said: ‘I kind of represent, in political terms, the abortion. You’re invited in but they kill you.’ Give us a thousand Alans over one Hillary Clinton, I say.Peter Senderos
London W12

Bad winner

Sir: Toby Young really should calm down (Status Anxiety, 6 June). He has nothing to fear from ‘cultural Marxists’. Britain is a Conservative country and has been for more than 35 years. We have a new Conservative government; of our last eight, four were Conservative, one a Conservative-dominated coalition, and three quasi-Conservative. The BBC has been run almost exclusively by small-c conservatives from John Reith’s time to the present day. Just look back over the past ten years or so. Could Mark Thompson, Tony Hall, Chris Patten and Rona Fairhead be described as left-wingers? Our businesses, banks, police and military are conservative. Virtually all our newspapers are conservative. But present Toby Young with a mildly left-of-centre Labour leader (who resoundingly lost) and a play with a leftish slant, and he panics.Mark Smith
Twickenham

Big girl’s blouse

Sir: Why does Dear Mary’s top always button the opposite way to those worn by my wife and all other female members of my family? Has she borrowed her husband’s shirt?Robert Vincent
Wildhern, Hampshire

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9553922/spectator-letters-allan-massie-on-the-fbi-christopher-booker-on-graffiti/feed/16 June 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9546542/spectator-letters-fixing-aid-hitler-on-hunting-and-the-sun-at-the-opera/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9546542/spectator-letters-fixing-aid-hitler-on-hunting-and-the-sun-at-the-opera/#commentsThu, 04 Jun 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9546542Targeting aid Sir: The way that our aid is being spent is a national scandal (Leading article, 30 May). This is because Dfid has outsourced its professional advice and thus… Read more

Sir: The way that our aid is being spent is a national scandal (Leading article, 30 May). This is because Dfid has outsourced its professional advice and thus no longer has the expertise to manage an aid programme, and because the establishment of the 0.7 per cent means that funds must be spent regardless of outcome.

Your solution, using aid funds to socially beneficial military purposes is well-intentioned but not feasible, because international rules would not permit Britain classifying this as aid. Fortunately there is a feasible solution that could be implemented without abandoning the aid target. This is to take up the Prime Minister’s promise in the Conservative Aid Policy manifesto ‘that hard-earned taxpayers’ money will be properly audited’. He never intended that the target should be met regardless of use, and could not object if proper auditing meant a smaller aid programme.

At present most aid goes in the form of unauditable grants to corrupt governments, or in huge amounts to international organisations, some 64 per cent of our aid. Instructions to Dfid staff that outcomes should take precedence over targets, grants to corrupt governments should be phased out, and that multilateral organisations should only get what is needed could save at least £5 billion per year. This would deliver a smaller, better-quality aid programme, about the size of those of Germany and France.Gordon BridgerGuildford

Bring in Iran

Sir: Last week’s Spectator carried three articles suggesting three different ways of dealing with Isis (30 May). They are: sending in ‘private military companies’, sending in special forces, and tacitly helping Iran to eradicate Isis from Iraq. The last should be implemented. Early on in the catastrophic rise of Isis, Iran offered to help. The assistance was supported by the UN; Iran had recently helped America in Afghanistan. The US/UK decision to block Iranian involvement was a crime.

There is a fourth solution. We should stop backing all rebels in Syria, work with Russia and Iran to enforce a ceasefire between Assad and the moderate rebels, and allow the Syrian army to eradicate Isis from their country. When that has been achieved it will be much easier to deal with them in Iraq.Dr Brendan O’BrienWinchmore Hill, London

Hitler and the hunters

Sir: Hitler may have banned fox hunting (Letters, 30 May) in that he outlawed as unsporting the pursuit on horseback with hounds of any live quarry, but on hunting wild mammals by other means he was ambivalent.

In 1938, a museum solely dedicated to hunting was opened in Munich, the guest of honour was Goering. Having drafted the Reich’s animal protection laws, an ethical mix of sportsmanship and justice, the Field Marshal hunted at his estate throughout the war as the ‘Reich Forest and Hunt Master’.

Hitler found the customs and rituals of hunting inexplicable and in 1942 compared them to ‘a modern freemasonry’. For him, riding to hounds was not the real issue. The socialists in the National Socialist party resented that Germany’s fox hunters were drawn almost exclusively from its aristocracy — instinctively to be mistrusted. This was not about cruelty or animal welfare but about class. It sounds grimly familiar.Robin Muir MFHCompton, West Sussex

Learning from obituaries

Sir: In the Spectator’s Notes (23 May), Charles Moore comments on my habit when reading my paper in the morning of turning to the obituaries in the hope of being cheered up by a report of the death of someone for whom I had no liking.

The habit has also led me to note that while the obituaries of many ‘celebrities’ list their numerous partnerships, marriages and divorces, those of distinguished former members of the armed services almost always list but one marriage, half a century or more ago. What should we conclude from this? Perhaps that the word of an armed serviceman or woman is worth more than that of a lawyer, banker, actor or — dare I say — politician?Lord TebbitWestminster, SW1

The Sun at the opera

Sir: Norman Lebrecht is off-key (Arts, 23 May) in accusing the Sun of ‘a class-based scorn for art’ and suggesting it would be beyond one’s imagination for the paper ‘ever to shine an inch of space’ on classical music. In my time as a Sun executive, we have filled the Royal Opera House with Sun readers at cheap prices for magnificent performances of Don Giovanni, Carmen and the ballet Mayerling. The Guardian, no less, said of our coverage: ‘Hats off to the tabloid — their spread on opera is virtuoso stuff.’ I commissioned Brian Sewell to write about paintings, and we had a fine arts correspondent, Toulouse le Plot, who specialised in auction houses. The trouble with those who mock the tabloids is that they never read them.Fergus ShanahanExecutive Editor, The Sun

Inspired by Hilton

Sir: In an otherwise admirable interview (23 May), Steve Hilton has sold Dfid short. He has clearly forgotten that, as Development Secretary, I arranged for him to visit a for-profit school in Lagos when we were both there on a trade visit with David Cameron, because I wanted to show him the very contrast he mentions. Far from Dfid supporting only state schools, he should recall that we set up the Girls’ Education Challenge Fund, designed to educate up to one million girls in the poorest countries — outside the state system. He should look at the brilliant work of Camfed in this area, for which he himself was in part the inspiration.Andrew MitchellLondon SW1

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9546542/spectator-letters-fixing-aid-hitler-on-hunting-and-the-sun-at-the-opera/feed/630 May 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9542132/australian-letters-20/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9542132/australian-letters-20/#commentsThu, 28 May 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9542132Baume strikes gold Sir: It is interesting that the above competition between the two largest exporting countries is at last getting some public exposure albeit in the context of the… Read more

Sir: It is interesting that the above competition between the two largest exporting countries is at last getting some public exposure albeit in the context of the extraordinary call for a public enquiry into the industry in Australia. Your correspondent Michael Baume was the first to raise this critical matter in ‘Iron Ore’s Vale of Tears’ (28 February).
One historical fact, forgotten or indeed unknown to many commentators, is that the foundation of Brazil as an iron ore supplier can actually be attributed to Australia’s mining unions, primarily the CFMEU.
In the early ‘70s, Western Australia supplied most of the iron ore required by the then world’s largest (and growing) steel mills in Japan. China imported little.

A series of crippling strikes in the Pilbara that decade, and later of course, caused understandable concern in Japan regarding security of supply so new sources of ore were sought.
Brazil was given very significant Japanese financial assistance, by way of freight subsidies in particular, to develop their previously untouched ore deposits with the result we all know.Basil GreeneScarborough WA

Why we don’t need mayors

Sir: There are a number of arguments against Steve Hilton’s call for more than 10,000 mayors (‘We need 10,000 mayors’, 23 May). One is that such an idea ruptures the whole tradition of British municipal administration, under which a system of elected councils is maintained to which executive officers are answerable. Another is that it may be doubted whether there is enough administrative talent available to exercise a substituent mayoral system effectively and efficiently. Politics will always get in the way, for one thing — a factor that our present system of councils takes into account.

Form is not so far encouraging, either. Mr Hilton might like to ‘jet’ over to mayoral Bristol and see a bad idea in action. If the present incumbent stands for re-election next year, he is likely to vanish in a puff of smoke like a pantomime demon. Most Bristolians rue the day they voted to have him.

Mr Cameron has had a number of rather dubious brainwaves over the years. Mayors are one of them (and police commissioners another).Chris Harries
Bristol

What we do need

Sir: Mr Hilton wants more than 10,000 new mayors. The people would probably prefer 10,000 new teachers, nurses or policemen.David Ashton
Sheringham, Norfolk

For freedom, not foxes

Sir: Rod Liddle has disappointed me with his latest article in The Spectator on the evils of fox hunting (23 May). He conveniently ignores the fact that the fox-hunting ban was not introduced primarily to protect the foxes but as a sop to the Labour left when Blair was feeling the heat. Even Blair has admitted since that it was a mistake. Rod also conveniently ignores the reports of urban foxes being on the increase.

I personally could not care less about fox hunting but I do care about freedom and I object to something which has been legal for centuries being declared illegal on the whim of a politician who, let us be frank, has not impressed us with his honesty. (When are we going to see the Chilcot report?) It should also not be forgotten that the last European country to ban fox hunting was Hitler’s Germany.John R. McErlean
Elstow, Bedfordshire

Shy Tories

Sir: I was not taken aback at the inaccuracy of the polls (‘How the polls got it so wrong’, 16 May). Years ago I was canvassing for Airey Neave. As I approached a tenement house, I saw that all of the downstairs windows were plastered with ‘Vote Labour’ posters, so I decided to give it a miss — but was called over by the resident, who assured me of his undying loyalty. When I expressed surprise, he said of the posters: ‘I have to display those — the unions are very strong where I work!’ This gave me hope that the pollsters might be wrong.Brian Foster
Shrivenham, Oxfordshire

Come to Kurdistan

Sir: Kate Eshelby (‘Away from the herd’, 16 May) makes fine points about Kurdistan, which I have seen transformed since 2006. New visitors often assume that Kurdistan is an arid land, and are astonished by its verdant plains. But agriculture is a poor cousin to energy, which provides the vast bulk of Kurdistan’s income. This is sad, given that Kurdistan was once the breadbasket of Iraq. Despite ambitious plans, it is far from self-sufficiency. Kurdistan produces quality pomegranates — worth more per barrel than oil — but there is no sign of these appearing on our shelves. It would not only generate a good income but could also positively rebrand Kurdistan in the eyes of western consumers.

Kurdistan has the attractions of solitude, beauty and snow-topped mountains as well as archaeological sites and ancient battlefields. All of this should make it a top destination for foreign travellers. If it hadn’t been for Isis, Erbil would have made the most of winning Arab tourism capital of the year and encouraged entrepreneurs to develop the tourist infrastructure.

Kurdish leaders know that they must diversify the economy to cope with oil price shocks. But this has taken second place to defeating Isis, coping with a major crisis caused by an influx of displaced people, and the suspension of infrastructure projects because Baghdad has yet to honour its budget payments.

The British government should add its weight to resolving those issues so the Kurds can add agriculture and tourism to their economy, and this country with a tragic past can enjoy a peaceful future.Gary Kent
Director, all-party parliamentary group on the Kurdistan Region
West Wickham, Kent

State funeral

Sir: Is anyone left alive who experienced what I did on receiving my state pension in 1980? I was given the choice of queuing for it at the Post Office or having it paid into my bank account. Being a snob, I chose the latter. I was then sent a letter saying that three months’ worth would be kept aside to meet my funeral costs.

This happened, but although I certainly did not imagine it, I have never met anyone else who had such a letter. As it happens, I have left my brain and spinal cord for research, so what’s left will not be complicated to dispose of. What worries me is that the letter — I should have kept it — seems to be the only one of its kind. Can anyone now left, born in 1920, comment?P.L. Hill
Radlett, Hertfordshire

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9542132/australian-letters-20/feed/030 May 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9539812/spectator-letters-mayors-foxes-and-kurdish-pomegranates/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9539812/spectator-letters-mayors-foxes-and-kurdish-pomegranates/#commentsThu, 28 May 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9539812Why we don’t need mayors Sir: There are a number of arguments against Steve Hilton’s call for more than 10,000 mayors (‘We need 10,000 mayors’, 23 May). One is that… Read more

Sir: There are a number of arguments against Steve Hilton’s call for more than 10,000 mayors (‘We need 10,000 mayors’, 23 May). One is that such an idea ruptures the whole tradition of British municipal administration, under which a system of elected councils is maintained to which executive officers are answerable. Another is that it may be doubted whether there is enough administrative talent available to exercise a substituent mayoral system effectively and efficiently. Politics will always get in the way, for one thing — a factor that our present system of councils takes into account.

Form is not so far encouraging, either. Mr Hilton might like to ‘jet’ over to mayoral Bristol and see a bad idea in action. If the present incumbent stands for re-election next year, he is likely to vanish in a puff of smoke like a pantomime demon. Most Bristolians rue the day they voted to have him.

Mr Cameron has had a number of rather dubious brainwaves over the years. Mayors are one of them (and police commissioners another).Chris Harrie
Bristol

What we do need

Sir: Mr Hilton wants more than 10,000 new mayors. The people would probably prefer 10,000 new teachers, nurses or policemen.David Ashton
Sheringham, Norfolk

For freedom, not foxes

Sir: Rod Liddle has disappointed me with his latest article in The Spectator on the evils of fox hunting (23 May). He conveniently ignores the fact that the fox-hunting ban was not introduced primarily to protect the foxes but as a sop to the Labour left when Blair was feeling the heat. Even Blair has admitted since that it was a mistake. Rod also conveniently ignores the reports of urban foxes being on the increase.

I personally could not care less about fox hunting but I do care about freedom and I object to something which has been legal for centuries being declared illegal on the whim of a politician who, let us be frank, has not impressed us with his honesty. (When are we going to see the Chilcot report?) It should also not be forgotten that the last European country to ban fox hunting was Hitler’s Germany.John R. McErlean
Elstow, Bedfordshire

Shy Tories

Sir: I was not taken aback at the inaccuracy of the polls (‘How the polls got it so wrong’, 16 May). Years ago I was canvassing for Airey Neave. As I approached a tenement house, I saw that all of the downstairs windows were plastered with ‘Vote Labour’ posters, so I decided to give it a miss — but was called over by the resident, who assured me of his undying loyalty. When I expressed surprise, he said of the posters: ‘I have to display those — the unions are very strong where I work!’ This gave me hope that the pollsters might be wrong.Brian Foster
Shrivenham, Oxfordshire

Come to Kurdistan

Sir: Kate Eshelby (‘Away from the herd’, 16 May) makes fine points about Kurdistan, which I have seen transformed since 2006. New visitors often assume that Kurdistan is an arid land, and are astonished by its verdant plains. But agriculture is a poor cousin to energy, which provides the vast bulk of Kurdistan’s income. This is sad, given that Kurdistan was once the breadbasket of Iraq. Despite ambitious plans, it is far from self-sufficiency. Kurdistan produces quality pomegranates — worth more per barrel than oil — but there is no sign of these appearing on our shelves. It would not only generate a good income but could also positively rebrand Kurdistan in the eyes of western consumers.

Kurdistan has the attractions of solitude, beauty and snow-topped mountains as well as archaeological sites and ancient battlefields. All of this should make it a top destination for foreign travellers. If it hadn’t been for Isis, Erbil would have made the most of winning Arab tourism capital of the year and encouraged entrepreneurs to develop the tourist infrastructure.

Kurdish leaders know that they must diversify the economy to cope with oil price shocks. But this has taken second place to defeating Isis, coping with a major crisis caused by an influx of displaced people, and the suspension of infrastructure projects because Baghdad has yet to honour its budget payments.

The British government should add its weight to resolving those issues so the Kurds can add agriculture and tourism to their economy, and this country with a tragic past can enjoy a peaceful future.Gary Kent
Director, all-party parliamentary group on the Kurdistan Region
West Wickham, Kent

State funeral

Sir: Is anyone left alive who experienced what I did on receiving my state pension in 1980? I was given the choice of queuing for it at the Post Office or having it paid into my bank account. Being a snob, I chose the latter. I was then sent a letter saying that three months’ worth would be kept aside to meet my funeral costs.

This happened, but although I certainly did not imagine it, I have never met anyone else who had such a letter. As it happens, I have left my brain and spinal cord for research, so what’s left will not be complicated to dispose of. What worries me is that the letter — I should have kept it — seems to be the only one of its kind. Can anyone now left, born in 1920, comment?P.L. Hill
Radlett, Hertfordshire

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9539812/spectator-letters-mayors-foxes-and-kurdish-pomegranates/feed/223 May 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9533462/letters-what-decommissioned-officers-did-after-the-war/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9533462/letters-what-decommissioned-officers-did-after-the-war/#commentsThu, 21 May 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9533462Soldiering on Sir: Max Hastings’s article about demobbed army officers trying for a job after the war struck a chord (‘Demob unhappy’, 16 May). The problem prevailed. I left as… Read more

Sir: Max Hastings’s article about demobbed army officers trying for a job after the war struck a chord (‘Demob unhappy’, 16 May). The problem prevailed. I left as a captain many years later in 1978. The local vicar asked what I was going to do with myself, adding scornfully, ‘Go into commerce, I suppose. Well, even that might be a struggle for someone who knows little else other than to play cowboys and shoot Indians!’

Somewhat bemused, I asked where his Sunday collections came from if — either directly or indirectly — it wasn’t commerce. He wasn’t pleased with this. Luckily, a few months later I was hired by a British company to do some fascinating work in north Africa. I often wondered if they did so largely out of curiosity.Greg Waggett
Clare, Suffolk

Sir: Max Hastings doesn’t mention the indecent haste with which wounded servicemen were discharged. My late father had been wounded and captured at Arnhem. Back in the UK, he asked to be given a few months to recover from his wounds and try to relaunch what had been a promising career at the Chancery Bar. He was told his patriotic duty was to resign his commission and stop being a drain on the national resources.Robert Davies
London SE3

Death duties

Sir: Mark Mason (‘Dead expensive’, 16 May) is dead right to highlight the funeral rip-off, but he misses a minor exaction and a major opportunity. Useful savings can be made by avoiding churches: a priest who may never have met the deceased isn’t cheap, and a church is liable to involve expensive add-ons such as choirs. The opportunity is to do something worthwhile with the money saved.

The option of a natural burial in an attractive landscape is a good alternative to the horrors of a municipal cemetery or crematorium. My personal choice, less impressive but perhaps more useful, is to leave my cadaver to medical science: the human anatomy departments of teaching hospitals are delighted to receive one.

After the fun, there’s charity. May I recommend a generous donation to the Gurkha Welfare Trust? What should have been a year of celebration of 200 years of service in the British army has turned into national tragedy.Sandy Skinner
Winchcombe, Glos

Creative discussion

Sir: I usually have no quarrel with Stephen Bayley, an astute and witty critic, but I do think he’s a bit hard on artists (Books, 16 May). I have read neither of the collections he excoriates, but the genre of artist interview remains — at least for me — a prime source of information and interest.

I get the feeling that Bayley prefers a TV-style badgering, an interview technique akin to John Freeman’s notorious Face to Face confrontations. But do we really want to see Gilbert Harding cry? I’d much rather discover that Frank Auerbach watches Morse or that Richard Deacon enjoys dancing. Oh, and something about the dark mysteries of the creative process would be good too — but that, I suspect, depends on which artists you choose to talk to. In the end, it’s all in the selection.Andrew Lambirth
Washbrook, Suffolk

In praise of the pit bull

Sir: I wholeheartedly endorse Mary Wakefield’s article on the pit bull (9 May). I have rescued Staffies over many years, and my present devoted friend Chester came to me with the obligatory studded collar, the name Tyson and a cruel history. After a few weeks of TLC he was transformed into a loving, loyal companion adored by all who know him. Like the pit bull, the Staffie is unfairly and much maligned, primarily due to ignorant and aggressive owners.Andrew Ashenden
Cambridge

Moores respect, please

Sir: Roger Alton deplores the use by the England cricketers of the familiar ‘Mooresie’ for their (former) coach, Peter Moores, and feels this may be symptomatic of the problems that infest English cricket (Spectator sport, 16 May).

How different it was in my youth. In 1958 I was fortunate enough to attend, together with a group of other boys, cricket classes at Hampshire’s county ground. During a break, a boy was heard to refer to the Hampshire professional Ray Pitman as ‘Pitman’. He was summoned to the secretary’s office and given a dressing down by Desmond Eagar for his presumption. Such exemplary standards notwithstanding, England (in the guise of MCC) still lost 4-0 in their tour of Australia later that year.Tom Blackett
West Byfleet, Surrey

Illegitimate point

Sir: Simon Callow writes that Orson Welles joins Stewart Menzies of MI6 and the historian John Wheeler-Bennett in a group of rumoured bastard sons of Edward VII (Arts, 9 May). Unlike the other two gentlemen, however, Welles suffered from the distinct disadvantage that the Playboy Prince was no longer alive when he was conceived.Tony Percy
Southport, North Carolina

The first Sturgeon

Sir: In case any of your readers missed this report: The Spectator, 18 August 1838: ‘On Wednesday, the first Sturgeon caught in the Thames in the present season was conveyed by John Nelson, the Assistant Water Bailiff, to the Lord Mayor. It is usual to send the first Sturgeon of the Mayoralty to the Sovereign; but the Lord Mayor having taken a view of the fish, observed that it was too small and meagre to set before her Majesty.’Peter Wellby
Chiddingly, East Sussex

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9533462/letters-what-decommissioned-officers-did-after-the-war/feed/316 May 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9528912/letters-312/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9528912/letters-312/#commentsWed, 13 May 2015 23:30:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9528912Modern migrant families Sir, In recounting the positions in print of the likes of Miranda Devine from the Right, and Jeff Sparrow of the Left ( Rebels with a jihadist… Read more

Sir,
In recounting the positions in print of the likes of Miranda Devine from the Right, and Jeff Sparrow of the Left ( Rebels with a jihadist cause, Spectator Australia, 2 May), Tanveer Ahmed just demonstrates that one can use and twist any situation to fit into and prove your pet peeve ( atheism and divorce in Devine’s case, and the well-worn, perennial evils of free-market capitalism from Sparrow).

I think Ahmed’s take on things, i.e. attitudes and beliefs from the home environment, are closer to the mark.

For what it’s worth, and allow me to take my own dogma for a walk here, in looking at the family situation. Firstly, there is the aspect of plain and simple bad parenting. This of course, cuts across all religious, ethnic and socio-economic lines. This is where you have parents who neither know nor care where their children are in the evenings or on weekends, nor who they associate with, what they read, what they listen to or what they look at online.

Secondly, there are the less desirable changes to the fabric of community life brought about the grand social engineering lab experiment that is Multiculturalism. When I went to school in the 1960′s and early ’70s, we all had classmates who came from migrant backgrounds, mainly Greek or Italian at that time, where there was a strong belief in duty to family and adherence to their specific culture in the home. But that seemed to end at the front door. Outside, in their interaction with the wider community, there was encouragement from parents for their children to “fit In” with Australian customs, values and society, rather than teaching them that our culture was morally deficient or evil, as seems to be the case in some circles today.

Tanveer Ahmed is also correct to comment on the research that shows adolescent brains don’t fully mature until around age 25 years. I am sure that is a factor in this as well, but that also plays out in other risk-taking behaviour. But I do feel that as a society, until we firstly decide that we are primarily a country operating under liberal, western values, and then expect and demand that migrants and their families do far more than pay lip-service (if that much) to those values, this problem will persist.David GerberSydney, NSW

Scotland’s silent majority

Sir: Hugo Rifkind’s article (‘Scotland’s nasty party’, 9 May) is a first for the media. It expresses the dismay, disbelief and incomprehension felt at the rise of the SNP by least one — and I suspect many — of the silent majority in Scotland. When will the media confront Nicola Sturgeon’s claim to speak for Scotland, as opposed to allowing her to deliver an unchallenged party political broadcast? She can only speak for the SNP, who at best can speak for half of Scottish voters. Not in my name. I want no part of her strident, demanding, aggressive brand.

The article did omit one issue. Thousands of young Scots work in England and abroad, developing and enhancing their expertise before returning home. That wider world view and knowledge benefits Scotland but, with the spectre of independence, how many of these young people will now chose not to return, making us a socially, intellectually and financially poorer, more parochial place?Name withheld (I really don’t want my windows broken), Glasgow

Top tipster

Sir: The Conservatives and Labour were ‘neck and neck’ or ‘too close to call’, according to all the so-called professional pollsters in the lead-up to the events of last Thursday. In five years’ time they should just ring up the dentist/jockey Sam Waley-Cohen, and save themselves time and no doubt a reasonable amount of wasted expense. He was spot on in his Grand National notebook (11 April). Now, who does he fancy in the 4.30 at Doncaster?Mark Peeters
Bigbury, Devon

Remembrance of lost Time

Sir: Taki’s obsequies for Time magazine (High life, 2 May) were most evocative. In my teenage years, much of my knowledge of foreign affairs came the local cinema and the March of Time shorts. The stirring signature music and the closing slogan, ‘time marches on’, remain permanently in my memory.

As for the magazine itself, over the past few years it has become progressively more boring. Taki did, however, take me back to the days of its pomp when the letters pages were fascinating: I recall during the Eisenhower years an example of lèse-majesté when the President was referred to as ‘that golf-playing idiot in Washington’.

There was also the response to an article on the anthropologist Margaret Mead, who had been exploring the sexual habits of South Sea islanders and condemned the masculinity of one tribe where the wives had to withdraw the special soup of the area until the men had performed. One correspondent replied: ‘I don’t think that the men are sexless — they just don’t like soup.’Ken Wortelhock
Orewa, New Zealand

Keeping parsonages

Sir: Could I please clear up the confusion caused by the letter from Canon John Fellows (9 May)? He asks where the vicar is to live when a parsonage is let out. Our lettings proposal relates to former parsonages that are no longer in clergy use. Having declared a house redundant, against the wishes of our members in the parish, the Church then sells it off. It should be keeping it to preserve its capital value, and letting it out to the hedge-fund manager cited by the canon for valuable income, rather than selling it off.

My point about the importance of keeping the traditional parsonage in the first place is that it gives the Church the vital presence, both symbolic and practical, that it loses when the vicar is hidden away on an anonymous suburban estate.Anthony Jennings
Director, Save Our Parsonages
London WC1

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9528912/letters-312/feed/016 May 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9526292/spectator-letters-silence-in-scotland-the-man-who-predicted-the-election-result-and-what-to-do-with-hair-clippings/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9526292/spectator-letters-silence-in-scotland-the-man-who-predicted-the-election-result-and-what-to-do-with-hair-clippings/#commentsThu, 14 May 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9526292Scotland’s silent majority Sir: Hugo Rifkind’s article (‘Scotland’s nasty party’, 9 May) is a first for the media. It expresses the dismay, disbelief and incomprehension felt at the rise of… Read more

Sir: Hugo Rifkind’s article (‘Scotland’s nasty party’, 9 May) is a first for the media. It expresses the dismay, disbelief and incomprehension felt at the rise of the SNP by least one — and I suspect many — of the silent majority in Scotland. When will the media confront Nicola Sturgeon’s claim to speak for Scotland, as opposed to allowing her to deliver an unchallenged party political broadcast? She can only speak for the SNP, who at best can speak for half of Scottish voters. Not in my name. I want no part of her strident, demanding, aggressive brand.

The article did omit one issue. Thousands of young Scots work in England and abroad, developing and enhancing their expertise before returning home. That wider world view and knowledge benefits Scotland but, with the spectre of independence, how many of these young people will now chose not to return, making us a socially, intellectually and financially poorer, more parochial place?Name withheld (I really don’t want my windows broken), Glasgow

Top tipster

Sir: The Conservatives and Labour were ‘neck and neck’ or ‘too close to call’, according to all the so-called professional pollsters in the lead-up to the events of last Thursday. In five years’ time they should just ring up the dentist/jockey Sam Waley-Cohen, and save themselves time and no doubt a reasonable amount of wasted expense. He was spot on in his Grand National notebook (11 April). Now, who does he fancy in the 4.30 at Doncaster?Mark Peeters
Bigbury, Devon

Remembrance of lost Time

Sir: Taki’s obsequies for Time magazine (High life, 2 May) were most evocative. In my teenage years, much of my knowledge of foreign affairs came the local cinema and the March of Time shorts. The stirring signature music and the closing slogan, ‘time marches on’, remain permanently in my memory.

As for the magazine itself, over the past few years it has become progressively more boring. Taki did, however, take me back to the days of its pomp when the letters pages were fascinating: I recall during the Eisenhower years an example of lèse-majesté when the President was referred to as ‘that golf-playing idiot in Washington’.

There was also the response to an article on the anthropologist Margaret Mead, who had been exploring the sexual habits of South Sea islanders and condemned the masculinity of one tribe where the wives had to withdraw the special soup of the area until the men had performed. One correspondent replied: ‘I don’t think that the men are sexless — they just don’t like soup.’Ken Wortelhock
Orewa, New Zealand

Keeping parsonages

Sir: Could I please clear up the confusion caused by the letter from Canon John Fellows (9 May)? He asks where the vicar is to live when a parsonage is let out. Our lettings proposal relates to former parsonages that are no longer in clergy use. Having declared a house redundant, against the wishes of our members in the parish, the Church then sells it off. It should be keeping it to preserve its capital value, and letting it out to the hedge-fund manager cited by the canon for valuable income, rather than selling it off.

My point about the importance of keeping the traditional parsonage in the first place is that it gives the Church the vital presence, both symbolic and practical, that it loses when the vicar is hidden away on an anonymous suburban estate.Anthony Jennings
Director, Save Our Parsonages
London WC1

Missing vicars

Sir: I totally support the recent comments about the place of the church in the community (Letters, 18 April, 2 May). The church is not just about an ancient historic building, splendid though that may be; it is about people worshipping together week by week and it is those very people who have to maintain the buildings, dearly loved as they are. In so many communities where there is no resident priest, churches are locked and appear unloved, with services at irregular times due to the workload of a priest trying to cover many parishes.

The Church is becoming more and more dependent on lay people and yet there are so many constraints on what they can do. Where is the diocese that looks to invest in people, building up the number of priests and local church leaders and enabling local churches to meet the needs of its parishioners? To make all this happen will need lower costs at the diocesan centre. Let’s bring back spiritual hope and joy to the heart of our communities.Mike Tedstone
Churchwarden, St Paul’s, Kewstoke, Somerset

Brass neck

Sir: Damian Thompson (‘The heckler’, 2 May) is if anything charitable of Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s interpersonal failings. Nonetheless, may we not admire the conductor’s sheer nerve in losing his temper with one of the LSO’s trumpeters? Anyone who has spent two minutes in front of an orchestra (or a couple of hours in the pub after) knows you never tangle with the brass.Richard Abram
Wanstead Park, Essex

The kindest cut

Sir: My hairdressers send any hair cuttings over six inches long to a charity for children suffering hair loss called the Little Princess Trust. A worthy alternative to using them to repel foxes (Letters, 16 May)?Elizabeth Hines
St Albans, Hertfordshire

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9526292/spectator-letters-silence-in-scotland-the-man-who-predicted-the-election-result-and-what-to-do-with-hair-clippings/feed/09 May 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9520132/spectator-letters-why-not-vote-like-belgians/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9520132/spectator-letters-why-not-vote-like-belgians/#commentsThu, 07 May 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9520132Bees vs Belgians Sir: To answer Rory Sutherland and Glen Weyl’s question: yes, everyone should vote and no, just because someone is more interested in politics, his opinion should not… Read more

Sir: To answer Rory Sutherland and Glen Weyl’s question: yes, everyone should vote and no, just because someone is more interested in politics, his opinion should not count more heavily (‘Plan Bee’, 2 May). Belgium has had compulsory voting for over a century. The troubles that follow every general election may seem to make it a strange example to follow, but those troubles are a consequence of the fragmented political landscape and not of the polling system. Compulsory voting motivates people to stay informed and care about what is happening to their country. It is, however, only compulsory to show up at the polling station, not to cast a valid vote, so the happily apathetic can draw a chicken or write a poem on their ballot paper if they’d rather. Then at least they will have made a conscious choice not to cast a vote.

The election results affect us all, so everyone should be forced to form an opinion on it. As for those who care a great deal and feel their opinion matters more: all they have to do is convince others to care too, and vote the same way they do. As with bees, extra enthusiasm and good dance moves will be rewarded.

When it comes to postal voting, though, I absolutely agree with the authors that casting a vote from home entails the risk of turning voting into a social and peer-pressure-influenced activity. If polling day was on a Sunday rather than on a weekday, perhaps more people would take the trouble to go to the polling station in person?Clara Waelkens
Belgium

Fossil arguments

Sir: Nigel Lawson reminds us of the economic case for burning fossil fuels and potential environmental impacts (Diary, 2 May). I am from north Derbyshire and both my paternal great grandfathers were killed in industrial accidents. When people talk about Mrs Thatcher closing the coal mines I ask them if they are pleased about the indirect positive effect this had on the environment, transforming former industrial landscapes into country parks and the river Rother no longer flowing as a chemical sewer. This is still greeted with angry rhetoric about the harmful effect on communities of ideological pit closures.

When I then ask the same people if they would welcome shale gas as a means to reinvigorate manufacturing, providing jobs for their children in new communities, I am often told this would cause global warming, harm the environment and only serve the profits of multinational corporations. If Britain is not to be a national park dependent on financial services in the south-east, difficult decisions might have to be made.Stephen Fawbert
London WC1

Living vicariously

Sir: Anthony Jennings, writing about the sale of parsonages (Letters, 2 May), states that ‘our evidence shows [this] has equally led to declining congregations’. It might be possible to show a statistical correlation, but I would be very interested to know the causal connection. ‘I am not going to church because the vicar doesn’t live in a big enough house’ doesn’t quite ring true. He then goes on to say that if the Church had held on to these old parsonages and let them out, the rental income would be enough to pay the current stipend bill. But then where would the vicar live? Either way, ‘I am going to church because the vicarage is rented out to a wealthy hedge-fund manager’ doesn’t quite ring true either.Canon John Fellows
Cambridgeshire

An Edinburgh bash

Sir: Taki asks whether to head east or west for his 80th birthday (High life, 25 April), yet he could always head north to the UK’s finest and most civilised city: Edinburgh.

No Qatari-owned sports cars littering the streets or rows of lifeless, empty houses owned by foreign speculators. Taki will breathe a sigh of contentment as he strolls our New Town streets. We’ll make him feel right at home here in the ‘Athens of the North’ and give him a night he’ll never forget as we toast his health with the water of life (uisge beatha). Who needs those odd Viennese when his guests can don fustanellas and kilts and keep the ceilidh band playing till dawn? Problem solved.Philip Church
Edinburgh

Brand loyalty?

Sir: Perhaps Hugo Rifkind could tell us whether the Russell Brand whose ‘heart is in the right place’ (2 May) is the same one who, with Jonathan Ross, so mistreated Andrew Sachs. If so, I wonder what one would have to do to earn his displeasure.Clare Johnson
Glossop, Derbyshire

Old Quarter

Sir: Dot Wordsworth is right to decry the overuse of the term ‘Quarter’ in towns and cities across the land (Mind your language, 2 May), but slightly off-piste to imply that there is something nouveau about Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. The use of the term probably arose in the 19th century, and in the 1952 History of Birmingham, Asa Briggs referred to ‘The Jewellers’ Quarter’, which at its peak in 1913 was employing 70,000 people in its workshops.Michael Gray
Alton, Hampshire

Keep Vienna a secret

Sir: I cannot but agree with Taki in his praise for Vienna (High Life, 2 May). Having been born and bred here, I have little to add to his succinct description of my hometown, merely that the very high quality of living we enjoy is recognised the world over.

Nevertheless, to preserve the city’s beauty and quality of life, Taki’s recommendation that people should move here (or to other cities in what used to be the Habsburg empire) should only be uttered to a select few.Stefan Schwalm
Vienna, Austria

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9520132/spectator-letters-why-not-vote-like-belgians/feed/22 May 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9512532/letters-what-has-happened-to-the-instinctive-tory-faith/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9512532/letters-what-has-happened-to-the-instinctive-tory-faith/#commentsThu, 30 Apr 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9512532An instinctive Tory faith Sir: For once Bruce Anderson does not exaggerate: David Cameron did indeed win golden opinions for his ‘high intellect and low cunning’ at the 1992 election… Read more

Sir: For once Bruce Anderson does not exaggerate: David Cameron did indeed win golden opinions for his ‘high intellect and low cunning’ at the 1992 election (‘The boy David’, 25 April), putting him among the most brilliant products of the Conservative Research Department over its long history. He contributed magnificently to the widely praised briefing material that the department produced for Tory candidates, in particular its 350-page Campaign Guide (a publication now discontinued after appearing at elections for 120 years, despite Cameron’s own boast that this is the ‘most organised’ campaign in his career).

But there was more. Thanks to Bruce and others, no one in the place understood more clearly that the supreme object of the Conservative party is the preservation of the nation. What has happened to this instinctive Tory faith? If he had proclaimed it eloquently and vigorously to the country last year, Scottish separatism could have been resoundingly defeated at the referendum. By placing undue emphasis on the narrow interests of England without any long-term constitutional plan to bind the entire nation together, the Tory campaign at this election is in danger of contributing to the further weakening of the Union, a prospect that it should be determined at all costs to avoid.Alistair Lexden
Deputy Director, Conservative Research Department, 1985–1997
House of Lords, London SW1

A debt to Raymond Carr

Sir: Following on Nick Mosley’s fine encomium on Raymond Carr, may I add my own note of gratitude (‘Remembering Raymond’, 25 April)? Back in 1969, I had discovered how difficult it was for young historians and biographers to get a first foot on the ladder. Having had a modest financial success from royalties on my book The Price of Glory, I wanted to help.

Only Raymond Carr stepped forward. With his vision, support from the Ford Foundation, and the backing of St Antony’s College, the ‘Alistair Horne Fellowship’ was launched. Now in its fifth decade, it has been — without boasting — an outstanding success, helping some 40 first-time authors including Norman Davies, John Campbell, Ian Buruma and Daisy Hay; also now Maurice Walsh, just reviewed (in your issue of 25 April) by another former fellow, Roy Foster. It thrives, but without Raymond it would never have got off the ground. In the hundreds of book reviews he wrote for this and other journals, Raymond applied a special tenet. Never claiming to be a kindly person, he declared: ‘If some poor sod spends all this time writing a bloody book, you must find something good to say about it.’ He seldom strayed from this precept; perhaps a great moral for all of us.Sir Alistair Horne
Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire

The fox and the hair

Sir: Reading Lara Prendergast’s article on hair in last week’s issue (‘The roots of the matter’, 25 April), reminded me of my recent visit to the hairdresser. Noticing the huge pile of cuttings on the floor I asked her what happened to the hair. She told me that the long hair was sold for hair extensions but she usually bagged up the rest as waste. I wondered if there was an untapped market for these cuttings and she said that occasionally a man calls and takes it. He keeps chickens and apparently it keeps the foxes away. I don’t know what he does with it but, given his ongoing problem with these pests, Alexander Chancellor might like to investigate this solution.Ray Boyd
Corby, Northants

Selling off parsonages

Sir: Donald Peacock (Letters, 18 April) might have said that the presence of the rectory or vicarage in the village is ‘still the best recruiting aid the Church has’, even more than the vicar. The traditional parsonage beside the church, as a venue for meetings, fetes and other parish events, has always been the symbol of Church in community, and our evidence shows that the loss of these fine houses has equally led to declining congregations that have to give ever more in parish contribution to keep the bureaucrats going.

Well over 8,000 fine parsonages have been sold off since 1945. A rough calculation shows that, at a conservative present value of £1 million per house sold, these would now be worth £8 billion. Even if genuinely redundant for clergy use, their present income, if they had been kept and rented out, would be enough to fund the entire annual stipends of the current clergy and more besides. What a story of waste.Anthony Jennings
Director, Save our Parsonages, London WC1

Party like an octogenarian

Sir: Toby Young reveals that his pa fathered a child at the age of 80 (25 April). The octogenarian Dame Joan Collins recounts how she ‘hit the disco’ and partied for 48 hours following her Buckingham Palace investiture. And now here’s Taki plotting his 80th birthday bash. Wits about you, female editors and young fillies, this will be one helluva High Life revelry.Will Holt
Enochdhu, Perthshire

Other genocides

Sir: Your correspondent Nick Ridout says that Germany was ‘the only nation to have committed genocide twice within half a century’ (Letters, 25 April). There are two more. Stalin’s murders (including starvation) of the kulaks in Ukraine in the 1930s, were followed by the murders, at Katyn and elsewhere, of Polish officers and the intelligentsia in 1939–41 and, arguably, of numerous Russian ex-prisoners of war and Polish resistance fighters in 1945 and later. Secondly, there were the killings of millions of Chinese in the ‘cultural revolution’ in the 1950s and 1960s by Mao Tse Tung and by his acolytes such as Pol Pot in the killing fields of Cambodia. It was the Vietnamese who liberated Cambodia, not the Chinese, and it is the latter who support the murderous North Korean regime today.C.J.W. Minter
London SW6

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9512532/letters-what-has-happened-to-the-instinctive-tory-faith/feed/1025 April 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9506162/spectator-letters-englands-defining-myth-and-another-forgotten-genocide/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9506162/spectator-letters-englands-defining-myth-and-another-forgotten-genocide/#commentsThu, 23 Apr 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9506162Enemies within Sir: I thought Matthew Parris was typically incisive in his last column, but perhaps not quite as much as the person who wrote its online headline, ‘Scotland knows… Read more

Sir: I thought Matthew Parris was typically incisive in his last column, but perhaps not quite as much as the person who wrote its online headline, ‘Scotland knows the power of a common enemy. We English don’t’ (18 April). It is true that ‘the wish to be the underdog’ is a defining urge of our age, even in relatively prosperous polities such as Scotland and Catalonia. But Parris is wrong when he claims that the closest the English come to the ‘Braveheart feeling’ is in their collective memory of the second world war. If only that were true. Would any other country make so little of its crucial role in the defeat of the most evil ideology the world has known? Celebrations of the 70th anniversary this May are especially low-key, considering that it is the last time any substantial gathering of former combatants will be possible.

Instead, the historical moment that seems to define Englishness is the first world war. Witness the crowds flocking to the Tower of London last November to see the installation of poppies. But no common enemy of the English is evoked by the myth; certainly not Germany, which is widely admired. Despite the efforts of so many historians, the ‘Lions led by Donkeys’ thesis of class war, of young working-class men sent over the top by toffs, is still the one that defines England’s past. We English, it appears, need to be victims as much as anyone else — but we find the enemy at home.Paul Lay
London N5

Remember the Herero

Sir: While I hesitate to question the infallibility of either Matthew Parris or the Pope, I would challenge their description of the Armenian genocide as being the first of the 20th century (18 April). It was pre-dated by the genocide of the Herero and Namaqua peoples of German South-West Africa in 1904–1907, giving Germany, incidentally, the distinction of being the only nation to have committed genocide twice within half a century.Nick Ridout
Ingham, Lincolnshire

Pie in the sky

Sir: I’m sure my fellow airline pilots would applaud Tom Roberts’s suggestion of replacing us with computers (Letters, 18 April). There is nothing more irritating than being woken from a post-prandial snooze on the flight deck to deal with such irritants as engine failures or cargo compartment fire warnings or passengers having the temerity to suffer heart attacks on flights over Siberia. I’m confident that, with the aircraft pointing west and more than halfway across the Atlantic, the computer could deal with a message advising it that ‘US airspace is closed, state your intentions’, as happened on 11 September 2001. Captain Sullenberger and his US Airways crew might just disagree, however. He managed to ditch his Airbus safely in the Hudson River after an altercation with a flock of geese resulting in a double engine failure.Robert Keith
Essex

In the teeth of the evidence

Sir: David Starkey is a perceptive historian, a wise man and an entertaining scourge of the left. But on dentistry he is wrong (Diary, 18 April). If British teeth are an example of the success of privatisation, I must review my belief that the NHS should be privatised. The British are impervious to vanity. They have the world’s best tailors and dress like Australians. Life in Britain suggests to me that if you want a good plumber, find a Pole. If you want a good dentist, find an Afrikaner.Nigel Bruce
King’s Lynn, Norfolk

Levelling down

Sir: Rod Liddle tells us that he is to vote Labour to reduce the gap between rich and poor (18 April). He may well be right. Of course with the stewardship of the economy in the hands of Labour, we will all be worse off, rich and poor. This could result in some modest reduction in the rich/poor gap. So let’s join Rod and vote Labour. You know it makes sense.Gordon Lane
Chislehurst, Kent

Signal virtue

Sir: James Bartholomew’s article on ‘virtue signalling’ (18 April) is spot on. A magnificent illustration of his thesis is the following recent outburst by an actor named Greg Wise: ‘I have actively loved paying tax, because I am a profound fucking socialist and I believe we are all in it together. But I am disgusted with HMRC. I am disgusted with HSBC. And I’m not paying a penny more until those evil bastards get to prison.’ Virtueballs, anyone?Alexander Pelling
London WC2

Cutting remark

Sir: Hugo Rifkind’s article (4 April) and Ann Wright’s letter (18 April) have reminded me of a day 40 years ago when I walked into Dunn’s tailors and hatters in Oxford and suggested to the senior man there that I might be interested in buying a ready-to-wear suit. He summoned a younger assistant and said, ‘Take this gentleman to the ready-made rails — short and portly!’ It was my only attempt to buy a ready-made suit, and the inspiration for many diets.Christopher Burton
Woodstock, Oxfordshire

Dead good

Sir: Julie Burchill’s heartening piece on living well (‘Fat chance’, 18 April) reminded me of a very Russian remark made by my boss when I worked in Moscow. She noticed that I was going through an abstemious phase and commented, ‘Rory, you are very lucky. You do not smoke, you do not drink; you will get to die healthy.’Rory Buchanan
Edinburgh

The motorcar has, since its invention, killed many hundreds of thousands of innocent pedestrians. Meanwhile, whole tracts of our beautiful and productive countryside have been flattened or destroyed to accommodate its traffic. I have been a devoted walker for over 80 years and remember how many favourite walks have been erased or spoiled for the construction of motorways.

Now that I am unable to do more than dodder, I get about on a mobility scooter. I like it even less than the pedestrians I may inconvenience, but my only alternative is a reclusive life indoors.Jim MorganLyme Regis, Dorset

We need our scooters

Sir: At 94 I do not own a bikini, but for the past three years I have been driving a mobility scooter with relief. It is a godsend to be able to drive down pavements. Pedestrians, however, are curiously unaware of my existence, and as a rule I generally have to slow down behind them while they saunter along merrily. Recently a woman popped up, back turned, onto a pavement without looking, and proceeded to walk on slowly. When I called ‘Look out’, she turned and answered, ‘No, you look out.’ Using the roads is also risky, as cars whizz past despite the priority assumed.

Most people, however, are tolerant. I would be unable to live where I do, at the top of a steep hill, without this welcome aid. I have yet to see anyone driving a mobile scooter without necessity.Pamela HillRadlett, Herts

Drop the pilot

Sir: The Wiki Man seems to have missed the elephant in the cockpit when considering why plane crashes are getting weirder (11 April). The number of fatal accidents caused by pilots has always been more than twice that caused by mechanical failure. The obvious solution is to remove the on-board pilot, whose job nowadays is to monitor the computer that flies the aircraft, with a few other tasks thrown in to stop him falling asleep. Most aircraft functions are already controlled autonomously by computer because they are too skilled/complex/fast/precise for humans to perform.Tom RobertsDerby

Balls is no Gromit

Sir: Your front cover illustration depicting Ed Miliband and Ed Balls as Wallace and Gromit (11 April) is only partially justified. In the animated film, Gromit is a quick-thinking and highly resourceful companion who rescues Wallace from difficult situations. On the available evidence, Ed Balls does not fit that description.Frank Tomlin,Billericay, Essex

How to keep a vicar

Sir: Quentin Letts’s entertaining article (‘How to pick a vicar’, 21 March) missed a crucial point, which is that having found its ideal vicar, a rural parish probably could not afford him. After a vacancy of 18 months, we now share our vicar with eight parishes, and yet the contribution required by the diocese has doubled in ten years. Of course, head office has its own problems: too many bishops, a pension fund black hole and so on — but the presence of a vicar in the village is still the best recruiting aid the church has. A vicar-less village means less of a congregation, which means less income, which again means less vicar. As one despairing churchwarden put it: ‘God knows what the answer is.’ If so, I do hope He tells us soon.Donald PeacockHalesworth, Suffolk

Beach bodies

Sir: Like Hugo Rifkind, I have seen a photograph of my grandfather wearing a three-piece suit on a beach (‘Why are so many men dieting?’, 4 April). In the deckchair next to him is my grandmother. It was 1913 and they were on their honeymoon in Margate. Next to them are my grandmother’s parents; her father is also wearing a three-piece suit. Dieting would have been completely alien to all of them, and it seems that a sensible equality between the sexes benefited the waistlines.Tom BlackettWest Byfleet, Surrey

Perfect shape

Sir: Hugo Rifkind’s article brought back fond memories of standing with my husband in a cubicle at Hector Powe, tailors. He was being measured for a new suit and the ‘oldish, fruity gent with a measuring tape round his neck’ muttered, tactfully, ‘Ah yes, sir has a forward waistline.’ The suit was a perfect fit.Ann WrightBristol

Where are the tortoises?

Sir: Regarding the non-appearance of the tortoises in his care, (Long life, 11 April) Alexander Chancellor might take comfort in an anecdote of my colleague, who some years ago was in a similar state of anxiety. The little chap in question came bursting forth from his garden tomb on Easter Sunday and was therefore renamed Jesus.Andrew PensonLondon W1

No way!

Sir: What would Rory Sutherland (‘Looking for answers you can’t see’, 28 March) think, while anxiously looking for the road to Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, of coming up to a T-junction in Avignon signposted, to the left, ‘Toutes Directions’ and, to the right, ‘Autres Directions’?Richard TempleLondon W11

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9499372/spectator-letters-the-mobility-scooters-strike-back/feed/811 April 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9494982/australian-letters-19/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9494982/australian-letters-19/#commentsWed, 08 Apr 2015 23:30:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9494982Fraser’s Folly Sir: Thoroughly enjoyed the tributes to Mr Fraser (Spectator Australia 28 March). So Peaches has his trousers; I thought that was a myth. I’ll tell you of one… Read more

Sir: Thoroughly enjoyed the tributes to Mr Fraser (Spectator Australia 28 March). So Peaches has his trousers; I thought that was a myth. I’ll tell you of one episode which is true.
I had friends in Coleraine and their father was the manager at the Fraser homestead Nareen. Back in the mid 1970s everyone had to refer to Mr Fraser as ‘Sir’. One day the manager was loading up some cattle to go to the abattoir, and Sir made a surprise visit, insisting that he would select the cattle. He did so, and the manager tried to get his attention to protest, but Sir silenced him and the truck headed off. Sir had sent off the prize bull!
It was the talk of the town. If ever you are in the district call in at the local pub and find an old boy and ask him about it. They have a special steak dish on the menu, called ‘Fraser’s Folly’.
The country people speak of him with affection, as he kept them amused with the many silly things he did.Susan Vaughan
Point Lonsdale, Victoria

In defence of Catholicism

Sir: Michael Gove gives an excellent defence of Christianity (4 April), but his embarrassment about the Roman Catholic part of the story is unnecessary. He writes of his discomfort as, declaring oneself to be a Christian, ‘You stand in the tradition of the Inquisition, the Counter-Reformation, the Jesuits who made South America safe for colonisation … the Christian Brothers who presided over forced adoptions’. The Inquisitions (Papal, Spanish and Portuguese) were indeed shameful, but were often as ineffective as the governments that supported them. The Counter-Reformation was a great movement of spiritual and cultural renewal that altered and improved western civilisation. Jesuits, and other religious orders, defended the indigenous people of South America from exploitation and earned great enmity from fellow Europeans. The Irish Christian Brothers were but one of many organisations, some of them Protestant and some secular, who sent vast numbers of children overseas. A positive view of the Catholic tradition strengthens, rather than weakens, Mr Gove’s case.(Revd) Fergus O’Donoghue, SJ
Saint Francis Xavier Church, Dublin

I prayed with Paxman

Sir: Michael Gove wrongs both Jeremy Paxman and Malvern College in referring to ‘Old Malvernian hauteur’. The school is incorporated by Royal Charter as a Church of England foundation. I prayed together with Paxman and several hundred other adolescents of varying degrees of spottiness every day for some years during the 1960s, so I cannot think that his sneer with Blair was anything to do with his views on communal worship. Far more likely that his ‘hauteur’ was derived from the prospect of two leaders of the free world getting down on their knees together to exhibit the attitude of prayer before embarking on a disastrous and, many believe, illegal war, as Gove later implies. By all means remark on Mr Paxman’s tone, but please do not ascribe it to our alma mater, which is a place of deeply held Christian convictions.Jeremy Havard
London SW3

Unhappy Easter

Sir: Michael Gove’s concern about the celebration, or lack of celebration, of the Christian faith in this country may have relevance to the front pages of the Sunday Times and Telegraph on Easter Sunday. Neither mentioned it — not even the usual picture of daffodils. It left me saddened.Robert Vincent
Wildhern, Hampshire

The Halifax Labour club

Sir: In his otherwise excellent review of Jonathan Schneer’s book on Winston Churchill’s war cabinet, Ministers at War (28 March), Nigel Jones made the very common mistake of stating that in May 1940 ‘the Labour party refused to serve under [Lord] Halifax’. In fact, when Clement Attlee and Arthur Greenwood telephoned from their party conference at Bournemouth on 9 May, they only stipulated that they would refuse to serve under Neville Chamberlain. They left it entirely up to the King and the Conservatives who would be prime minister, and indeed there was a strong body of opinion in the Labour party that preferred Halifax. Both Hugh Dalton and Herbert Morrison told Halifax’s junior minister at the Foreign Office, Rab Butler, that Halifax should be prime minister and that Churchill should ‘stick to the war’. Halifax’s good personal relations with the Labour leadership, his liberal viceroyalty of India and Churchill’s bad history with the Labour party since Tonypandy and the General Strike, as well as the Conservatives’ massive majority in the Commons, all made it inconceivable that Labour would seek to disbar Halifax in the way that they did Chamberlain.Andrew Roberts
New York

Why Gatwick can’t expand

Sir: Martin Vander Weyer (4 April) should keep his £10 safe from Betfair — Gatwick has no more chance than Heathrow of delivering an extra runway. It has virtually no pool of unemployment nearby, so would have to attract the extra airport workforce to the area, but there is no room to build the extra houses, schools and hospitals needed. Nor is spare rail capacity available to transport extra passengers or workers.

I am afraid that the government set poor Sir Howard Davies the wrong question five years ago when it asked where in the south-east of England an extra runway should go. Now it has rightly decided to follow a strategy of rebalancing the British economy away from the south-east toward a new ‘northern powerhouse’. To make any sense of the strategy, that is where any fresh airport hub must be created.David Lough
Penshurst, Kent

Horse and Vicar?

Sir: Anne Fisher should not give up on her idea of advertising other than in the Church Times (Letters, 4 April). My dear late grandfather once placed an advertisement for a horse in Horse and Hound and added as an afterthought that if a vicar happened to be reading, he would be glad to hear from him. The result was the best appointment to his local church that my grandfather ever made.Andrew Wynn
Pixley, Herefordshire

Quote for luck

Sir: I was delighted to read Matilda Bathurst’s review of my collection of short stories, Wrote for Luck (4 April). But I think she ought to know that Samuel Beckett did not, as far as I am aware, ever say that he ‘wrote for luck’. I am afraid that this is an authorial joke.D.J. Taylor
Norwich

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9494982/australian-letters-19/feed/011 April 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9492702/letters-a-defence-of-catholicism/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9492702/letters-a-defence-of-catholicism/#commentsThu, 09 Apr 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9492702In defence of Catholicism Sir: Michael Gove gives an excellent defence of Christianity (4 April), but his embarrassment about the Roman Catholic part of the story is unnecessary. He writes… Read more

Sir: Michael Gove gives an excellent defence of Christianity (4 April), but his embarrassment about the Roman Catholic part of the story is unnecessary. He writes of his discomfort as, declaring oneself to be a Christian, ‘You stand in the tradition of the Inquisition, the Counter-Reformation, the Jesuits who made South America safe for colonisation … the Christian Brothers who presided over forced adoptions’. The Inquisitions (Papal, Spanish and Portuguese) were indeed shameful, but were often as ineffective as the governments that supported them. The Counter-Reformation was a great movement of spiritual and cultural renewal that altered and improved western civilisation. Jesuits, and other religious orders, defended the indigenous people of South America from exploitation and earned great enmity from fellow Europeans. The Irish Christian Brothers were but one of many organisations, some of them Protestant and some secular, who sent vast numbers of children overseas. A positive view of the Catholic tradition strengthens, rather than weakens, Mr Gove’s case.(Revd) Fergus O’Donoghue, SJ
Saint Francis Xavier Church, Dublin

I prayed with Paxman

Sir: Michael Gove wrongs both Jeremy Paxman and Malvern College in referring to ‘Old Malvernian hauteur’. The school is incorporated by Royal Charter as a Church of England foundation. I prayed together with Paxman and several hundred other adolescents of varying degrees of spottiness every day for some years during the 1960s, so I cannot think that his sneer with Blair was anything to do with his views on communal worship. Far more likely that his ‘hauteur’ was derived from the prospect of two leaders of the free world getting down on their knees together to exhibit the attitude of prayer before embarking on a disastrous and, many believe, illegal war, as Gove later implies. By all means remark on Mr Paxman’s tone, but please do not ascribe it to our alma mater, which is a place of deeply held Christian convictions.Jeremy Havard
London SW3

Unhappy Easter

Sir: Michael Gove’s concern about the celebration, or lack of celebration, of the Christian faith in this country may have relevance to the front pages of the Sunday Times and Telegraph on Easter Sunday. Neither mentioned it — not even the usual picture of daffodils. It left me saddened.Robert Vincent
Wildhern, Hampshire

The Halifax Labour club

Sir: In his otherwise excellent review of Jonathan Schneer’s book on Winston Churchill’s war cabinet, Ministers at War (28 March), Nigel Jones made the very common mistake of stating that in May 1940 ‘the Labour party refused to serve under [Lord] Halifax’. In fact, when Clement Attlee and Arthur Greenwood telephoned from their party conference at Bournemouth on 9 May, they only stipulated that they would refuse to serve under Neville Chamberlain. They left it entirely up to the King and the Conservatives who would be prime minister, and indeed there was a strong body of opinion in the Labour party that preferred Halifax. Both Hugh Dalton and Herbert Morrison told Halifax’s junior minister at the Foreign Office, Rab Butler, that Halifax should be prime minister and that Churchill should ‘stick to the war’. Halifax’s good personal relations with the Labour leadership, his liberal viceroyalty of India and Churchill’s bad history with the Labour party since Tonypandy and the General Strike, as well as the Conservatives’ massive majority in the Commons, all made it inconceivable that Labour would seek to disbar Halifax in the way that they did Chamberlain.Andrew Roberts
New York

Why Gatwick can’t expand

Sir: Martin Vander Weyer (4 April) should keep his £10 safe from Betfair — Gatwick has no more chance than Heathrow of delivering an extra runway. It has virtually no pool of unemployment nearby, so would have to attract the extra airport workforce to the area, but there is no room to build the extra houses, schools and hospitals needed. Nor is spare rail capacity available to transport extra passengers or workers.

I am afraid that the government set poor Sir Howard Davies the wrong question five years ago when it asked where in the south-east of England an extra runway should go. Now it has rightly decided to follow a strategy of rebalancing the British economy away from the south-east toward a new ‘northern powerhouse’. To make any sense of the strategy, that is where any fresh airport hub must be created.David Lough
Penshurst, Kent

Horse and Vicar?

Sir: Anne Fisher should not give up on her idea of advertising other than in the Church Times (Letters, 4 April). My dear late grandfather once placed an advertisement for a horse in Horse and Hound and added as an afterthought that if a vicar happened to be reading, he would be glad to hear from him. The result was the best appointment to his local church that my grandfather ever made.Andrew Wynn
Pixley, Herefordshire

Quote for luck

Sir: I was delighted to read Matilda Bathurst’s review of my collection of short stories, Wrote for Luck (4 April). But I think she ought to know that Samuel Beckett did not, as far as I am aware, ever say that he ‘wrote for luck’. I am afraid that this is an authorial joke.D.J. Taylor
Norwich

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9492702/letters-a-defence-of-catholicism/feed/24 April 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9486382/spectator-letters-the-modern-equivalents-of-unity-mitford/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9486382/spectator-letters-the-modern-equivalents-of-unity-mitford/#commentsThu, 02 Apr 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9486382Unity’s modern equivalents Sir: I don’t understand why David Pryce-Jones is still banging on about the Mitfords (‘You are always close to me’, 28 March). Of course my great-aunt Unity was… Read more

Sir: I don’t understand why David Pryce-Jones is still banging on about the Mitfords (‘You are always close to me’, 28 March). Of course my great-aunt Unity was misguided and wrong to adore Adolf Hitler. She was not alone, though. In the 1930s millions of Germans and many non-Germans were equally in thrall to the new National Socialist government. A lot of people were taken in by the propaganda.

Perhaps Mr Pryce-Jones could more usefully get his few hundred quid fee from The Spectator by writing an article about Unity’s modern equivalents — the idiotic British girls who are travelling to Syria to help Isis, the Nazis of our own era.Valentine GuinnessLondon W2

Bobo Hitler

Sir: David Pryce-Jones is wrong to postulate that Unity Mitford might have become the Hon. Mrs Adolf Hitler. She would, as an Hon. in her own right, have become the Hon. Mrs Hitler.Christopher BellewLondon W6

The art of the job ad

Sir: I was amused by Quentin Letts’s story about lefty waffle used for job ads in the Church Times (‘How to pick a vicar’, 21 March). G.K. Chesterton understood the art, saying: ‘If I choose to head an article “An inquiry into the conditions of Mycenaean civilisation, with special reference to the economic and domestic functions of women before and after the conjectural date of the Argive expedition against Troy”, I really have no right to complain if (when I send it to the Chicago Daily Scoop) they alter the title to “How Helen of Troy did the housekeeping”.’Greg WaggettClare, Suffolk

Wanted: parish priest

Sir: Quentin Letts could be voicing the problem we have in our group of parishes (four churches). There hasn’t been a vicar for 18 months. We have done very well, with all manner of folk taking the services, and in one of the smallest we manage three Book of Common Prayer evensongs a month. At the last parochial church council meeting I suggested we advertise in something other than the Church Times for a change. I thought the Horse and Hound, The Spectator, the Lady and our local newspaper might bring forth someone of note. My idea went down like a lead balloon.Anne FisherBasingstoke, Hants

Sympathetic development

Sir: Simon Jenkins might need to check the files that he claims ‘burst’ with reports of a large-scale ‘systematic assault on the appearance of rural England’ (‘The war on rural England’, 28 February). In Penshurst, West Kent Housing Association has proposed a development of a grand total of six sympathetically designed affordable houses that will enable local families to live in their own village — hardly the ‘hundreds of uniform properties’ that he predicts.

Perhaps Sir Simon would like to visit Penshurst and see for himself how a sympathetic small development can benefit the local community?Ben ThomasPenshurst, Kent

Meals on wheels

Sir: Theodore Dalrymple states that an Englishman’s street has become his dining room (‘I blame the parents’, 21 March) and he is right, but only up to a point. Cycling, in my ponderous fashion, the highways and byways of my corner of Somerset, it is evident that an Englishman’s car is his dining room, too, and also his café/bar. Not a square yard of the winter-bare hedgerows and ditches is unadorned with beer cans, paper cups and takeaway packaging of all kinds — what I have taken to calling ‘McRubbish’.

If the authorities cannot or will not tackle this problem then what is the solution? ‘Komm lieber Mai’ and cover it all up with new green growth I suppose.John NankervisMartock, Somerset

Kitchen sink drama

Sir: There is nothing new in redoing kitchens, as Ysenda Maxtone Graham implies (‘Cold heart of the home’, 28 March). In 1984, a chum of mine insisted on stripping out a perfectly acceptable one — about five years old. I said that, if she was serious, could I have the double drainer for my utility room? She was, and 30 years later I still use her sink daily.William ThomasFulmodeston, Norfolk

Take a tip from me

Sir: It is a shame that Jeremy Clarke backed Black Hercules rather than the horse I recommended in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle, and that he lost 50 euros (Low life, 21 March). My Gold Cup day email said: ‘I am happy to take on Black Hercules in an open-looking Albert Bartlett and Martello Tower looks fairly priced’. Martello Tower won at 15.1/1, and Jezza would have been 755 euros better off.‘Soapy Joe’London WC1

Hard to love

Sir: Lucy Beresford offers me a charming invitation to overcome my Stephen Sondheim allergy and ‘fall in love’ with him (Letters, 28 March). I accept. But I should let her know that nothing less than a complete mind-wipe will serve her purpose, and since I’m also a lapsed Catholic she’s unlikely to succeed in performing the operation twice.Lloyd EvansLondon E3

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9486382/spectator-letters-the-modern-equivalents-of-unity-mitford/feed/228 March 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9479692/spectator-letters-who-kept-us-out-of-the-euro-and-how-to-deal-with-squirrels/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9479692/spectator-letters-who-kept-us-out-of-the-euro-and-how-to-deal-with-squirrels/#commentsThu, 26 Mar 2015 04:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9479692The referendum parties Sir: Zac Goldsmith and Sir John Major are each of them both right and wrong on the EU referendum (‘My dad saved Britain’, 28 February; Letters, 21… Read more

Sir: Zac Goldsmith and Sir John Major are each of them both right and wrong on the EU referendum (‘My dad saved Britain’, 28 February; Letters, 21 March). I was an MP interested in Europe, and then a PPS and minister on EU issues in the Foreign Office from 1997 to 2005, and it was pretty clear to all of us that Sir John’s decision to call a referendum on euro entry was motivated by his need to appease the rising Eurosceptic fronde in his party. He may sincerely believe that the creation of the Referendum party by Sir James Goldsmith had nothing to do with the decision. But for the rest of us at the time the use of a referendum — described by Margaret Thatcher as ‘the device of demagogues and dictators’ — was a ploy to shore up Tory votes against the Eurosceptic passion for a plebiscite.

Sir John’s offer of a referendum was immediately matched by Tony Blair. The claim that Gordon Brown kept the UK out of the euro is just silly. The five tests, though properly done by good economists, were a red herring. No one in government thought Blair would risk a referendum on the EU. It would have revived and reunited the down-and-out Conservatives. It would have ruptured Blair’s alliance with Rupert Murdoch and Lord Rothermere. And it would have divided Labour, whose conversion to pro-Europeanism was recent.

Today, does anyone doubt that David Cameron’s offer of an in/out referendum is disinterested and not a response to the rise of Ukip? Ed Miliband has been more courageous than Tony Blair and refused to support a plebiscite that risks Britain quitting Europe. Whether this stand is validated on 7 May remains to be seen. But with referendums now fully part of our unwritten constitution, British politics is becoming more and more continental.Denis MacShane
London SW1

Annie get your gun

Sir: The solution to the problem of squirrels raiding bird feeders posed by Anne Wareham (‘The ultimate pest’, 21 March) is simple: get an air rifle. You do not need a licence to buy one; all that is required is that you are over 18. In fact, you can buy one by mail order: it won’t cost you much more than £70, and opens up a whole new activity. As Anne Wareham explained, grey squirrels are not nice cuddly creatures, but enjoy nothing more than tucking in on newly hatched songbirds, and have ethnically cleansed most of the UK of the lovable red squirrel. These are the animal equivalent of Nazi stormtroopers; even politically correct friends and neighbours should applaud your new bloodsport.Francis Fulford
Dunsford, Exeter

Annie get your dung

Sir: On reading Anne Wareham’s amusing piece on squirrels and her reference to ‘the nonsense about deterring deer with lion dung’, I feel I should share the following tale. A few years ago our red deer herd was dominated by a stag named Actaeon, who occasionally escaped from his duties to visit the terrace on the south side of the house. He particularly enjoyed strolling through the border, eating some plants and wearing others around his antlers. Our head gardener wanted him shot. Various less drastic measures were taken, but Actaeon went on munching. Desperate, we appealed to a zoologist friend at a wildlife park who sent us a quantity of puma dung, which we spread at each end of the terrace. Actaeon maintained his alpha status for several years but he never returned to the terrace.Patricia HarewoodLeeds

Joining the free world

Sir: Roger Broad (Letters, 21 March) repeats the assertion, so often made, that European countries formerly controlled by the USSR became EU or Nato members by their own free will. It depends what you mean by free will. In a world where even this country no longer feels able to assert sovereignty, few nations freely choose anything. Broken economically and morally by decades of Leninism, Moscow’s former vassals were understandably anxious to climb into any ambulance that offered to pick them up. They have already begun to pay the bill, having lost their frontiers, their ability to make independent foreign policy and (in many cases) their currencies. It may be worth it. But it is not that free, and we should not pretend it is.Peter HitchensLondon W8

The name of the Father

Sir: I’m surprised by Peter Jones’s denunciation of the ‘deliciously pagan’ Christian cleric who gave thanks to God as ‘Allah’ (Ancient and Modern, 21 March). Clearly Mr Jones has not been to a Catholic Mass in Maltese or Arabic, or he would know that the Arabic word for God is indeed ‘Allah’. The much-endangered Arabic-speaking Christians of the East — who no one could call ‘pagan’ — have been praying to God by this name from the outset. Of course, the Christian name for God is (also) ‘Jesus’.Janet SoskiceCambridge

Sondheim challenge

Sir: Oh no! The wonderful Lloyd Evans loathes Stephen Sondheim (Arts, 21 March)? Say it ain’t so! In highlighting Sondheim’s poor rhymes, he’s missing the point. Sondheim isn’t just about rhyme, internal or otherwise. His talent is about the often perfect combination of music and lyrics. Who could maintain a dry eye when middle-aged Sally sings ‘In Buddy’s eyes, I’m young, I’m beautiful…’? Sondheim is a lyricist who wants you to smile. His songs paint pictures and tell stories. Perhaps his most searing, most truthful, most painful, most beautiful song is ‘Our Time’, about a time in your life when you believe anything is possible, yet also sung when you’ve discovered it isn’t. I believe anything is possible. I believe I can make Lloyd Evans fall in love with Stephen Sondheim. Are you up for it, Mr Evans?Lucy BeresfordLondon SW1

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9479692/spectator-letters-who-kept-us-out-of-the-euro-and-how-to-deal-with-squirrels/feed/421 March 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9475022/australian-letters-18/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9475022/australian-letters-18/#commentsThu, 19 Mar 2015 00:30:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9475022White Ribbon Sir: Tanveer Ahmed wrote an article in The Spectator Australia (14 March) about the various ramifications of the opinion piece he wrote for The Australian on 9 February… Read more

Sir: Tanveer Ahmed wrote an article in The Spectator Australia (14 March) about the various ramifications of the opinion piece he wrote for The Australian on 9 February 2015. There are a number of factual inaccuracies in this article as it relates to his interactions with White Ribbon, most importantly the elationship between White Ribbon Australia and whiteribbon.org.

Dr Ahmed refers to whiteribbon.org as a ‘splinter group’ of the White Ribbon Campaign. This is an incorrect and dangerous statement. The work of whiteribbon.org is completely distinct from and antagonistic to the White Ribbon Campaign worldwide, including White Ribbon Australia. White Ribbon Australia staff made this clear to Dr Ahmed during our discussions with him in February.

White Ribbon Australia remains focused on the prevention of men’s violence against women. We will continue working with the more than 2,300 White Ribbon Ambassadors across the country, our supporters and the schools and workplaces participating in our violence prevention programs. We are proud to work with these individuals and groups that are committed to helping create real social change and making Australian communities safer for women and girls.Libby Davies
CEO White Ribbon Australia

The Goldsmith effect

Sir: Much as I admire filial loyalty, I cannot allow Zac Goldsmith’s article about his father to go uncorrected (‘My dad saved the pound’, 28 February). Sir James Goldsmith was a formidable campaigner against the European Union and the euro currency, but at no point did he alter government policy. Zac Goldsmith suggests that I did not offer a referendum on membership of the euro currency out of conviction. This is wrong. I believed that any decision to abandon sterling — which I myself did not favour — was so fundamental that it would need national endorsement. On constitutional grounds some Cabinet members dissented, but many will confirm that I was seeking agreement for such a policy long before the Referendum party was founded. If anything, Sir James made the decision process more difficult, since no one in Cabinet wished to appear to be influenced.

It has been claimed that I was willing to offer a referendum on membership of the EU. This is untrue, although Sir James often cited it as a reason for establishing the Referendum party. Zac Goldsmith suggests that I offered Sir James a peerage, presumably in order to secure his support. At no time did I make such an offer; nor did I authorise anyone else to make such an offer on my behalf. Quite apart from any other consideration, it would have been wholly improper.

Sir James was not, however, without influence. The Referendum party did serious damage to the electoral prospects of the Conservative party, and helped usher in 13 years of Labour government. Sir James is entitled to take his share of credit for what followed as a result of his actions: the European treaties of Nice and Lisbon; the advent of spin on an industrial scale; financial collapse; rising unemployment and soaring national debt. What he cannot take credit for is keeping us out of the euro. The Conservative government I led obtained the opt-out at Maastricht, and ensured a referendum would be required for any currency change, thus spiking Mr Blair’s ambitions to join the euro.

I do not wish to reopen old sores, nor do I wish to cause any offence to the Goldsmith family. But, for the sake of historical record, I cannot allow such myths to take root.Sir John Major
London SW1

Tate expectations

Sir: I am flattered by Jack Wakefield’s suggestion that I would make an ‘outstanding’ director of Tate Britain (Arts, 7 March). But I’d like to make it clear that I do not share his view of Penelope Curtis, who seems to me to be doing a good job under very difficult circumstances.

Insofar as Mr Wakefield’s criticisms relate to disappointing exhibitions, few surely would agree that Lord Leighton, Epstein or Lanyon are the answer; and his view that the ‘massive unseen collections present plenty of opportunity to mount outstanding exhibitions’ is idealistic. The conservation time required to bring most of these works up to exhibition condition would be prohibitive. Where his criticisms relate to a ‘decline in scholarship’, the decision to part with Ian Warrell and Annie Lyles undeniably was bad karma for Curtis, but as Mr Wakefield concedes, it was forced on her. Under Curtis, the Tate’s collections website, in terms of its scholarship, has become one of the best there is.

Many of Tate Britain’s problems result from the public perception of its relationship with Tate Modern, from Tate’s unwieldy management structures, and of course from the squeeze on public funding. Penelope Curtis works with the people who raise funds for Tate and manage its image, but she does not control them. Has Tate Britain now become the cultural equivalent of Manchester United — someone has to take the rap for a few poor results?Alex Kidson
Liverpool

Rank hypocrisy

Sir: Martin Vander Weyer is right (Any other business, 14 March). Rona Fairhead should not for a second consider resignation as chairman of the BBC Trust on dubious grounds at the behest of Margaret Hodge, Labour chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. There is rank hypocrisy here. In 2003 Lady Hodge refused to resign as Children’s Minister despite the revelation that year of the Islington care homes child sex abuse scandal, which happened on her watch. Lady Hodge had been leader of Islington council at the time the abuse took place but it had been brushed under the carpet. Initially, Lady Hodge dismissed the scandal as gutter journalism. Later she blamed it on her officials. Finally, through her barrister, she apologised. So much for taking responsibility.Gregory Shenkman
London W8

A philistine proposal

Sir: Your claim (Leading article, 14 March) that ‘Britain’s arts have never been in better shape’ is untrue: the numerous arts organisations damaged or destroyed by George Osborne’s spending cuts are memorialised by the website ‘Lost Arts’. The axing of state funding altogether, which you advocate, would be as deplorable as Isis’s bulldozing of Iraq’s historic sites.T. Simon Couzens
London N4

The EU and Russia

Sir: Peter Hitchens tries hard to equate the European Union and Russia as comparable imperial powers (‘The empire-builders’, 7 March). But the difference is that the Russian loss of 700,000 square miles was at the desire of subject peoples, whereas the enlargement of the EU by 300,000 of those square miles was by the free will of some of those formerly subject peoples.Roger Broad
London W2

Sir: Much as I admire filial loyalty, I cannot allow Zac Goldsmith’s article about his father to go uncorrected (‘My dad saved the pound’, 28 February). Sir James Goldsmith was a formidable campaigner against the European Union and the euro currency, but at no point did he alter government policy. Zac Goldsmith suggests that I did not offer a referendum on membership of the euro currency out of conviction. This is wrong. I believed that any decision to abandon sterling — which I myself did not favour — was so fundamental that it would need national endorsement. On constitutional grounds some Cabinet members dissented, but many will confirm that I was seeking agreement for such a policy long before the Referendum party was founded. If anything, Sir James made the decision process more difficult, since no one in Cabinet wished to appear to be influenced.

It has been claimed that I was willing to offer a referendum on membership of the EU. This is untrue, although Sir James often cited it as a reason for establishing the Referendum party. Zac Goldsmith suggests that I offered Sir James a peerage, presumably in order to secure his support. At no time did I make such an offer; nor did I authorise anyone else to make such an offer on my behalf. Quite apart from any other consideration, it would have been wholly improper.

Sir James was not, however, without influence. The Referendum party did serious damage to the electoral prospects of the Conservative party, and helped usher in 13 years of Labour government. Sir James is entitled to take his share of credit for what followed as a result of his actions: the European treaties of Nice and Lisbon; the advent of spin on an industrial scale; financial collapse; rising unemployment and soaring national debt. What he cannot take credit for is keeping us out of the euro. The Conservative government I led obtained the opt-out at Maastricht, and ensured a referendum would be required for any currency change, thus spiking Mr Blair’s ambitions to join the euro.

I do not wish to reopen old sores, nor do I wish to cause any offence to the Goldsmith family. But, for the sake of historical record, I cannot allow such myths to take root.Sir John MajorLondon SW1

Tate expectations

Sir: I am flattered by Jack Wakefield’s suggestion that I would make an ‘outstanding’ director of Tate Britain (Arts, 7 March). But I’d like to make it clear that I do not share his view of Penelope Curtis, who seems to me to be doing a good job under very difficult circumstances.

Insofar as Mr Wakefield’s criticisms relate to disappointing exhibitions, few surely would agree that Lord Leighton, Epstein or Lanyon are the answer; and his view that the ‘massive unseen collections present plenty of opportunity to mount outstanding exhibitions’ is idealistic. The conservation time required to bring most of these works up to exhibition condition would be prohibitive. Where his criticisms relate to a ‘decline in scholarship’, the decision to part with Ian Warrell and Annie Lyles undeniably was bad karma for Curtis, but as Mr Wakefield concedes, it was forced on her. Under Curtis, the Tate’s collections website, in terms of its scholarship, has become one of the best there is.

Many of Tate Britain’s problems result from the public perception of its relationship with Tate Modern, from Tate’s unwieldy management structures, and of course from the squeeze on public funding. Penelope Curtis works with the people who raise funds for Tate and manage its image, but she does not control them. Has Tate Britain now become the cultural equivalent of Manchester United — someone has to take the rap for a few poor results?Alex KidsonLiverpool

Rank hypocrisy

Sir: Martin Vander Weyer is right (Any other business, 14 March). Rona Fairhead should not for a second consider resignation as chairman of the BBC Trust on dubious grounds at the behest of Margaret Hodge, Labour chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. There is rank hypocrisy here. In 2003 Lady Hodge refused to resign as Children’s Minister despite the revelation that year of the Islington care homes child sex abuse scandal, which happened on her watch. Lady Hodge had been leader of Islington council at the time the abuse took place but it had been brushed under the carpet. Initially, Lady Hodge dismissed the scandal as gutter journalism. Later she blamed it on her officials. Finally, through her barrister, she apologised. So much for taking responsibility.Gregory ShenkmanLondon W8

A philistine proposal

Sir: Your claim (Leading article, 14 March) that ‘Britain’s arts have never been in better shape’ is untrue: the numerous arts organisations damaged or destroyed by George Osborne’s spending cuts are memorialised by the website ‘Lost Arts’. The axing of state funding altogether, which you advocate, would be as deplorable as Isis’s bulldozing of Iraq’s historic sites.T. Simon CouzensLondon N4

The EU and Russia

Sir: Peter Hitchens tries hard to equate the European Union and Russia as comparable imperial powers (‘The empire-builders’, 7 March). But the difference is that the Russian loss of 700,000 square miles was at the desire of subject peoples, whereas the enlargement of the EU by 300,000 of those square miles was by the free will of some of those formerly subject peoples.Roger BroadLondon W2

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9472812/spectator-letters-john-major-on-james-goldsmith/feed/1Sir James Goldsmithfeatured14 March 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9468652/australian-letters-17/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9468652/australian-letters-17/#commentsThu, 12 Mar 2015 00:30:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9468652Praise indeed Sir: Congratulations on the best arguments, articles and editorial I have personally witnessed so far in the history of The Spectator Australia. Best issue yet. Neil Brown for… Read more

Sir: Congratulations on the best arguments, articles and editorial I have personally witnessed so far in the history of The Spectator Australia. Best issue yet. Neil Brown for example deserves unqualified praise.Giles AutyEcho Point, AustraliaGiles Auty wrote 500 articles for The Spectator UK 1984-95

Betrayal of Trust

Sir: Rod Liddle has traduced the Quaker values of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust that include non-violence, equality and truth in his piece, ‘Jihadi John, Cage and the fools who give it money’, 7 March.

Mr Liddle identified three recipients of JRCT grants: Jawaab UK, Cage, and Teach na Fáilte. Jawaab UK was not set up by an extremist Islamic maniac. On the contrary, it works to help young Muslims play their part in a democratic society. Cage, which JRCT ceased funding in January 2014, has in the past played an important role in defending the right to fair trial and due legal process. Finally, JRCT has not given money to the Irish National Liberation Army. Rather, having worked to build trust with all sides in Northern Ireland for more than 40 years, it has approved a ring-fenced grant to Teach na Fáilte, a support group for current and ex-prisoners, to build pathways to peace.

In the past ten years, JRCT has made 1,075 grants totalling £57 million. Our funding in South Africa and Northern Ireland demonstrates that building peace with justice requires patient, long-term work. Of necessity this will sometimes involve working with people whose views might appear difficult to reconcile, and who may have undesirable pasts. JRCT abhors violence, does not fund terrorism, and its goal is a peaceful and just society.Nick PerksJoseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, York

Lessons of Winterbourne

Sir: In your leader (7 March) you suggest that NHS hospitals such as Furness General Hospital would benefit from being forced to close in the same way that Winterbourne View was. The parent company of Winterbourne View is now under new ownership: same 20 homes, same 850 staff. The only people who have been taught a lesson are the company’s creditors.Tom RobertsDerby

Police officers needed?

Sir: Exposure to the police too often confirms Neil Darbyshire’s depressing analysis of the degradation of our police service (‘PCs gone bad’, 7 March). However, Mr Darbyshire fails to propose a solution. Like Lenin’s fish, the Met has rotted from the head down. The practice, since the 1950s, of appointing leadership from within the Met has proved a serious error. Outsiders would have brought none of the internal baggage that automatically came with the internal appointments of the past 60 years.

The Met Commissioner should be the solution and not part of the problem. Commissioners do not solve crimes or catch criminals, but select and manage those who handle the sharp end. They do not need past experience of policing. The Commissioner therefore should be an outsider assisted by deputies who are professional policemen. The Met should also upgrade recruitment and target, for example, those with officer-level experience in the armed forces. Ethical failures and corruption in the police service are evidence of the absence within it of the essential moral ethos that comes with a trained officer class.Gregory Shenkman
London W8

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport must take a much tougher line with the trustees. Any future funding settlements from the taxpayer should be conditional upon a far higher proportion of Tate Britain’s unseen treasures being made available to the viewing public; preferably in the major provincial galleries.Professor David Thomas
Harrogate

No serious evidence

Sir: In his sobering article on Russia and Nato (‘The empire builders’, 7 March), Peter Hitchens makes the point that there is no serious evidence for the belief that Russia wants to re-conquer its lost empire. It is worth reflecting that this month marks the 50th anniversary of the first arrival of US combat units in Vietnam, prompted by a belief for which there was, similarly, no serious evidence: the domino theory.Tom Vaizey
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Who visits our galleries?

Sir: Alexander Chancellor is of course correct in suggesting that you really can’t make people go to art galleries or the opera if they don’t want to (Long life, 28 February); but they just might want to if our education system did more to spark their interest. Governments should not be penalising the galleries and theatres for their own education policy failures.

But I remain intrigued about the basis for all these statements about low-income families and the rest. A recent report suggested that while there had been an increase in foreign visitors to our galleries, visits by UK nationals were down. How do they know? I have never been asked where I come from on my many visits to the National Gallery and the rest; and the galleries would be hard-pressed to assess my income or socio-economic class, let alone my nationality, based on my general appearance. How reliable is this data?

Last year, Harriet Harman wrote that on a visit to the Royal Opera House she had not seen any of her constituents (I presume she intended an observation regarding social class etc). She was rebutted online by a number of people who said they had been present and did indeed come from her part of south-east London. I do hope that funding will never be based — even in part — on such careless assumptions.George KingstonPuttenham, Guildford

Dismaying news

Sir: I dare say I am not the only Spectator reader whose heart sank at the revelation (Letters, 7 March) that two ‘Turner Prize-winning artists’ have been commissioned to install new artworks at the Tottenham Court Road station.Iain FalconerEast Grinstead

Rizwan Hussain: an apology

In his 7 March article (‘Jihadi John, the crazies at Cage and the fools who fund them’), Rod Liddle wrongly identified the founder of the organisation Jawaab, Rizwan Hussain, as being the former head of the Global Aid Trust, which had been exposed by a TV programme as ‘a nest of extremist Islamists’ including a preacher who had made anti-Semitic comments. Rod was, alas, referring to a different Rizwan Hussain. We accept that Mr Hussain, a director of Jawaab, has had nothing to do with the Global Aid Trust, and there was therefore no basis for linking him to the views of those who participate in that organisation. Further, we accept that Jawaab does not have and has never had any links to extremist murderers and any suggestion to this effect was unfounded and erroneous. We have invited Mr Hussain to explain Jawaab’s work in Jawaab explained. We apologise unreservedly to him and to Jawaab for our error.

Sir: Rod Liddle has traduced the Quaker values of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust that include non-violence, equality and truth in his piece, ‘Jihadi John, Cage and the fools who give it money’, 7 March.

Mr Liddle identified three recipients of JRCT grants: Jawaab UK, Cage, and Teach na Fáilte. Jawaab UK was not set up by an extremist Islamic maniac. On the contrary, it works to help young Muslims play their part in a democratic society. Cage, which JRCT ceased funding in January 2014, has in the past played an important role in defending the right to fair trial and due legal process. Finally, JRCT has not given money to the Irish National Liberation Army. Rather, having worked to build trust with all sides in Northern Ireland for more than 40 years, it has approved a ring-fenced grant to Teach na Fáilte, a support group for current and ex-prisoners, to build pathways to peace.

In the past ten years, JRCT has made 1,075 grants totalling £57 million. Our funding in South Africa and Northern Ireland demonstrates that building peace with justice requires patient, long-term work. Of necessity this will sometimes involve working with people whose views might appear difficult to reconcile, and who may have undesirable pasts. JRCT abhors violence, does not fund terrorism, and its goal is a peaceful and just society.Nick PerksJoseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, York

Lessons of Winterbourne

Sir: In your leader (7 March) you suggest that NHS hospitals such as Furness General Hospital would benefit from being forced to close in the same way that Winterbourne View was. The parent company of Winterbourne View is now under new ownership: same 20 homes, same 850 staff. The only people who have been taught a lesson are the company’s creditors.Tom RobertsDerby

Police officers needed?

Sir: Exposure to the police too often confirms Neil Darbyshire’s depressing analysis of the degradation of our police service (‘PCs gone bad’, 7 March). However, Mr Darbyshire fails to propose a solution. Like Lenin’s fish, the Met has rotted from the head down. The practice, since the 1950s, of appointing leadership from within the Met has proved a serious error. Outsiders would have brought none of the internal baggage that automatically came with the internal appointments of the past 60 years.

The Met Commissioner should be the solution and not part of the problem. Commissioners do not solve crimes or catch criminals, but select and manage those who handle the sharp end. They do not need past experience of policing. The Commissioner therefore should be an outsider assisted by deputies who are professional policemen. The Met should also upgrade recruitment and target, for example, those with officer-level experience in the armed forces. Ethical failures and corruption in the police service are evidence of the absence within it of the essential moral ethos that comes with a trained officer class.Gregory Shenkman
London W8

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport must take a much tougher line with the trustees. Any future funding settlements from the taxpayer should be conditional upon a far higher proportion of Tate Britain’s unseen treasures being made available to the viewing public; preferably in the major provincial galleries.Professor David Thomas
Harrogate

No serious evidence

Sir: In his sobering article on Russia and Nato (‘The empire builders’, 7 March), Peter Hitchens makes the point that there is no serious evidence for the belief that Russia wants to re-conquer its lost empire. It is worth reflecting that this month marks the 50th anniversary of the first arrival of US combat units in Vietnam, prompted by a belief for which there was, similarly, no serious evidence: the domino theory.Tom Vaizey
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Who visits our galleries?

Sir: Alexander Chancellor is of course correct in suggesting that you really can’t make people go to art galleries or the opera if they don’t want to (Long life, 28 February); but they just might want to if our education system did more to spark their interest. Governments should not be penalising the galleries and theatres for their own education policy failures.

But I remain intrigued about the basis for all these statements about low-income families and the rest. A recent report suggested that while there had been an increase in foreign visitors to our galleries, visits by UK nationals were down. How do they know? I have never been asked where I come from on my many visits to the National Gallery and the rest; and the galleries would be hard-pressed to assess my income or socio-economic class, let alone my nationality, based on my general appearance. How reliable is this data?

Last year, Harriet Harman wrote that on a visit to the Royal Opera House she had not seen any of her constituents (I presume she intended an observation regarding social class etc). She was rebutted online by a number of people who said they had been present and did indeed come from her part of south-east London. I do hope that funding will never be based — even in part — on such careless assumptions.George KingstonPuttenham, Guildford

Dismaying news

Sir: I dare say I am not the only Spectator reader whose heart sank at the revelation (Letters, 7 March) that two ‘Turner Prize-winning artists’ have been commissioned to install new artworks at the Tottenham Court Road station.Iain FalconerEast Grinstead

Rizwan Hussain: an apology

In his 7 March article (‘Jihadi John, the crazies at Cage and the fools who fund them’), Rod Liddle wrongly identified the founder of the organisation Jawaab, Rizwan Hussain, as being the former head of the Global Aid Trust, which had been exposed by a TV programme as ‘a nest of extremist Islamists’ including a preacher who had made anti-Semitic comments. Rod was, alas, referring to a different Rizwan Hussain. We accept that Mr Hussain, a director of Jawaab, has had nothing to do with the Global Aid Trust, and there was therefore no basis for linking him to the views of those who participate in that organisation. Further, we accept that Jawaab does not have and has never had any links to extremist murderers and any suggestion to this effect was unfounded and erroneous. We have invited Mr Hussain to explain Jawaab’s work in Jawaab explained. We apologise unreservedly to him and to Jawaab for our error.

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9466062/letters-a-solution-to-problems-with-the-met-police/feed/27 March 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9462012/australian-letters-16/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9462012/australian-letters-16/#commentsThu, 05 Mar 2015 00:30:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9462012Vale of Praise Sir: Michael Baume’s article on Iron Ore’s Vale of Tears (Business/Robbery etc 28 February) was the best I have seen on the subject in the Australian press.… Read more

Sir: Michael Baume’s article on Iron Ore’s Vale of Tears (Business/Robbery etc 28 February) was the best I have seen on the subject in the Australian press. None of the ‘experts’ in Australia I have read to date have considered the fact of the extreme competition BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto face from the state owned Vale of Brazil. Rather they tend to concentrate, lazily, on the domestic rivalry of the two local producers. In addition to the freight aspect for China which will now favour Brazilian exports to China there is a technical advantage Vale has in the quality of their ore which is uniformly higher grade iron content, compared with Pilbara ore, and hence lower impurity content of phosphorus, in particular, alumina and silica. This quality difference is particularly attractive to many Chinese steel producers.Basil GreeneScarborough, WA

Disgusted

Sir: Jeremy Clarke’s Low Life article, 28 February in support of ‘the ancient and very wonderful sport of hare-coursing’ was upsetting. My friends in Year 6 and I are concerned at the practice of baiting grey-hounds with defenceless animals, in this case piglets, rabbits and possums which are strapped to mechanical lures and flung around a trial/training track. The idea of this is to increase the dogs’ prey drive, so that when they race, they will run faster and harder. We are trying to raise awareness about animal cruelty and keeping Eco-Friendly, so that our native possums are here for future generations. We are greatly disturbed and disgusted at what’s going on and want to make a difference.Jemima GraySt. Kilda, Victoria

A disaster for unionists

Sir: I share Alex Massie’s view that ‘this election is going to be a disaster’ for us unionists (‘Divided we fall’, 28 February). It is almost too painful to recall that it will mark the 60th anniversary of a great victory in May 1955 when the Tories, standing as Scottish Unionists, won more seats north of the border than their opponents and helped give Anthony Eden a secure majority. Under the baleful influence of George Osborne, who could not care less about the constitution, there seems little chance that the Tories will redeem themselves by proposing the one remaining policy that could save the Union: a new constitutional settlement for the UK based on the federal model. Osborne’s Tories are wholly preoccupied with their so-called long-term economic plan. A genuine long-term plan for the constitution ought to be the overriding priority.Alistair LexdenHouse of Lords, London SW1

Nationalists’ sham

Sir: If the SNP ends up as kingmaker at Westminster, the main parties have only themselves to blame. During the referendum campaign they refused to point out that the nationalist case was a complete sham. The SNP wanted Scotland’s currency to be controlled by London or Frankfurt, its passport to be an EU not a Scottish one, its Scottish system of law to be subordinate to European law, and the vast majority of its legislation to continue to originate in Brussels. But the press and the major parties refuse to deconstruct Scottish nationalism. Given The Spectator’s support of Britain remaining in the EU, what real difference does it make if Scotland has a separate presence there or if it is run from Brussels as part of a larger province called the UK?Alan SkedProfessor of International History, LSE,London WC2

Thanks to Goldsmith

Sir: Zac Goldsmith is absolutely right (‘My dad saved the pound’, 28 February). In 2000 I addressed 10,000 people in the pouring rain in Trafalgar Square, standing on the plinth of Nelson’s Column between the statues of two almost forgotten Victorian generals that Mayor Livingstone was urging should be replaced with memorials to more contemporary heroes.

If this were to happen, I suggested, one should be a small statue of John Major, for having negotiated an opt-out from the euro for Britain at Maastricht. The other should be a much larger statue of Sir James Goldsmith, for having prodded all the major parties in 1997 into pledging that Britain could not join the euro without a referendum. Not only did this ensure, I said, that Britain would never join the single currency; it would eventually be seen as the key to why Britain left the EU.Christopher BookerLitton, Somerset

Paolozzi preserved

Sir: Contrary to Stephen Bayley’s article on public art (Arts, 28 February), the preservation of the Paolozzi murals at Tottenham Court Road station is part of Transport for London’s upgrade work. Crossrail is constructing an entirely new station next to the existing one.

The preservation of artwork and the commissioning of new works are a major feature of the station upgrade. New artworks at the new Oxford Street entrance will eventually be joined by new pieces that will complement the iconic 1984 mosaic designs by Eduardo Paolozzi, an integral part of London Underground’s heritage. TfL has worked closely with the Paolozzi Foundation and design and conservation professionals to retain 95 per cent of the mosaics in their original locations.

The new Crossrail stations in London will also have large-scale artworks. The Turner Prize-winning artists Douglas Gordon and Richard Wright have, for example, recently been commissioned to install two new pieces of art at the Tottenham Court Road station.Gareth Powell, Director of Strategy and Service Development, Transport for LondonJulian Robinson, Crossrail Head of Architecture

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9462012/australian-letters-16/feed/07 March 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9459402/spectator-letters-how-to-save-the-union-who-cares-for-paolozzis-murals/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9459402/spectator-letters-how-to-save-the-union-who-cares-for-paolozzis-murals/#commentsThu, 05 Mar 2015 04:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9459402A disaster for unionists Sir: I share Alex Massie’s view that ‘this election is going to be a disaster’ for us unionists (‘Divided we fall’, 28 February). It is almost… Read more

Sir: I share Alex Massie’s view that ‘this election is going to be a disaster’ for us unionists (‘Divided we fall’, 28 February). It is almost too painful to recall that it will mark the 60th anniversary of a great victory in May 1955 when the Tories, standing as Scottish Unionists, won more seats north of the border than their opponents and helped give Anthony Eden a secure majority. Under the baleful influence of George Osborne, who could not care less about the constitution, there seems little chance that the Tories will redeem themselves by proposing the one remaining policy that could save the Union: a new constitutional settlement for the UK based on the federal model. Osborne’s Tories are wholly preoccupied with their so-called long-term economic plan. A genuine long-term plan for the constitution ought to be the overriding priority.Alistair LexdenHouse of Lords, London SW1

Nationalists’ sham

Sir: If the SNP ends up as kingmaker at Westminster, the main parties have only themselves to blame. During the referendum campaign they refused to point out that the nationalist case was a complete sham. The SNP wanted Scotland’s currency to be controlled by London or Frankfurt, its passport to be an EU not a Scottish one, its Scottish system of law to be subordinate to European law, and the vast majority of its legislation to continue to originate in Brussels. But the press and the major parties refuse to deconstruct Scottish nationalism. Given The Spectator’s support of Britain remaining in the EU, what real difference does it make if Scotland has a separate presence there or if it is run from Brussels as part of a larger province called the UK?Alan SkedProfessor of International History, LSE,London WC2

Thanks to Goldsmith

Sir: Zac Goldsmith is absolutely right (‘My dad saved the pound’, 28 February). In 2000 I addressed 10,000 people in the pouring rain in Trafalgar Square, standing on the plinth of Nelson’s Column between the statues of two almost forgotten Victorian generals that Mayor Livingstone was urging should be replaced with memorials to more contemporary heroes.

If this were to happen, I suggested, one should be a small statue of John Major, for having negotiated an opt-out from the euro for Britain at Maastricht. The other should be a much larger statue of Sir James Goldsmith, for having prodded all the major parties in 1997 into pledging that Britain could not join the euro without a referendum. Not only did this ensure, I said, that Britain would never join the single currency; it would eventually be seen as the key to why Britain left the EU.Christopher BookerLitton, Somerset

Paolozzi preserved

Sir: Contrary to Stephen Bayley’s article on public art (Arts, 28 February), the preservation of the Paolozzi murals at Tottenham Court Road station is part of Transport for London’s upgrade work. Crossrail is constructing an entirely new station next to the existing one.

The preservation of artwork and the commissioning of new works are a major feature of the station upgrade. New artworks at the new Oxford Street entrance will eventually be joined by new pieces that will complement the iconic 1984 mosaic designs by Eduardo Paolozzi, an integral part of London Underground’s heritage. TfL has worked closely with the Paolozzi Foundation and design and conservation professionals to retain 95 per cent of the mosaics in their original locations.

The new Crossrail stations in London will also have large-scale artworks. The Turner Prize-winning artists Douglas Gordon and Richard Wright have, for example, recently been commissioned to install two new pieces of art at the Tottenham Court Road station.Gareth Powell, Director of Strategy and Service Development, Transport for LondonJulian Robinson, Crossrail Head of Architecture

Bad words

Sir: Congratulations to The Spectator on its new campaign (Arts, 28 February). Can there be a more baleful two-word phrase in the language currently than ‘public art’?Tim HudsonChichester, West Sussex

Wonderful woodburners

Sir: I read of Jane Kelly’s dissatisfaction with her wood-burning stove (‘Feel the burn’, 28 February) with some surprise. It may be that I have had it lucky, but I’ve always found that they do an excellent job of heating a room, with minimal smoke and minimal effort. I suggest that Jane Kelly has her chimney swept and the stove’s seals replaced. The window can be cleaned using ashes and water. When it comes to the fire itself, a pyramid of balled-up newspaper, some old cardboard and dry kindling are the answer. Buy logs in bulk and store them under cover, and keep a decent amount indoors in a log basket so there’s no need to brave the freezing rain on winter nights. Don’t give up on your stove, Jane; they are fashionable, but that’s for a reason.Camilla SkoglyLaggan, Invernessshire

A way to fill the pews

Sir: Wouldn’t the expensive upkeep of its virtually empty buildings be mitigated if the Church of England actually tried to convert the population to the Christian religion, or is any such possibly futile mission prevented in any case by the new state ideology of ‘diversity and equality’?David AshtonSheringham, Norfolk

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9459402/spectator-letters-how-to-save-the-union-who-cares-for-paolozzis-murals/feed/028 February 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9454072/australian-letters-15/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9454072/australian-letters-15/#commentsThu, 26 Feb 2015 00:30:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9454072Bad behaviour Sir: A good number of years ago I was at the University of NSW with a pleasant fellow called Donald McDonald. I understand he went from there to… Read more

Sir: A good number of years ago I was at the University of NSW with a pleasant fellow called Donald McDonald. I understand he went from there to the Australian Opera, the Australian Broadcasting Commission and other areas.

On reading the Culture Buff column in the Australian Spectator of the 14th of February, I initially believed that it was the same Donald but then realised it couldn’t have been – he would never have written ‘behavior’ when he meant ‘behaviour’.Eric Willson
Brighton East, Victoria

The presence of a church

Sir: The challenge for the Church of England and the wider community is to ensure that our village churches are a blessing and not a burden (‘It takes a village’, 21 February). The Church of England has approximately 16,000 churches, three-quarters of which are listed by English Heritage. Most of these church buildings are in rural areas.

There are around 2,000 rural churches with weekly attendance lower than ten. It can be a significant responsibility for those small congregations to look after that church, and one has to recognise that this is a burden that falls on thriving parishes.

There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution and, as Ysenda Maxtone Graham made clear, there needs to be a range of solutions, including greater involvement of the laity, the possibility of giving responsibility for more churches to local charities or trusts, and the setting up of ‘festival churches’, which have services only for the major festivals of the Church. We also need to see how we can make church buildings more serviceable to the wider community, so that they can be used as much as possible and not simply for Sunday worship.

For many people the presence of a church in rural England is symbolic of the nation and the rural way of life, and a source of support and comfort even for those who are not regular churchgoers. We should start with the very clear premise that the Church of England is a national church and should therefore ensure a Christian presence in every community.Rt Hon. Canon Sir Tony Baldry, MP
Second Church Estates Commissioner,
Church Buildings Council, London SW1

A western perimeter

Sir: Anne Applebaum’s article (‘Putin’s grand strategy’, 21 February) graphically illustrates the threat that Putin poses to western unity. But isn’t it true that Putin, by showing his hand so blatantly in Ukraine, is making it easier for the West to create a defendable perimeter to contain future Russian aggression, behind which those countries that want to be part of the West can be secure? Such a perimeter would enable the West, over time, to consolidate western collective security, and build western economic and political resilience.Clive Christie
Aberystwyth, Wales

Actioning action

Sir: Perhaps Dot Wordsworth could take this up. Is there any branch of public service which has not been infected by Orwellian Newspeak? I had a telephone conversation yesterday with a young woman at a well-known museum about a refund for a course that had been cancelled at short notice. After waiting for two weeks, I am still without my refund, I informed her. Her reply, after a longish wait at my end, was that ‘the situation is being reviewed by several managers and once it has been approved will be actioned by our managers’. How many managers does it take to kick a can down the road, one wonders?Maureen Finucane
Richmond, Surrey

Taxing issue

Sir: Toby Young (Status anxiety, 21 February) confesses some doubt as to whether the citizen should pay only the tax which can be demanded of him under the black letter of the taxing statute, or abide by the spirit of the law and pay what the legislators have deemed to be fair.

Mr Young is pondering a problem of wider significance than he perhaps realises. He ought to consult his colleague, Matthew Parris, who in his autobiography, Chance Witness, expiates on the citizen’s need for certainty in the law, and the danger to that certainty from the application by the courts of the rules of natural justice. I think that no matter how unfair the results may sometimes be, it is better for Mr Young and the rest of us that our rights and liabilities under statute are based on the specific wording of the statute.Robert Angus
Allendale, Northumberland

Dear Mary’s secret codes

Sir: Are the first lines of Mary’s problem-solving answers taking the form of cryptic crossword clues? From recent issues: You can’t ask her without infringing it (7 February). Insinuate from the beginning that you are ringing on behalf of the petitioner (7 February). There is no need to kiss at all in this scenario (14 February). As far as I can see, this is either coincidence or someone at The Spectator is transmitting coded messages regarding Liberty, Iran and the French Connection. Considering the changeable atmosphere we’re currently experiencing over here, I advise the editor to keep an eye on what his publication is (perhaps subliminally) transmitting.Mark Daniell
Buenos Aires, Argentina

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9454072/australian-letters-15/feed/028 February 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9451762/spectator-letters-why-rural-churches-are-so-important-and-the-best-use-for-them/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9451762/spectator-letters-why-rural-churches-are-so-important-and-the-best-use-for-them/#commentsThu, 26 Feb 2015 04:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9451762The presence of a church Sir: The challenge for the Church of England and the wider community is to ensure that our village churches are a blessing and not a… Read more

Sir: The challenge for the Church of England and the wider community is to ensure that our village churches are a blessing and not a burden (‘It takes a village’, 21 February). The Church of England has approximately 16,000 churches, three-quarters of which are listed by English Heritage. Most of these church buildings are in rural areas.

There are around 2,000 rural churches with weekly attendance lower than ten. It can be a significant responsibility for those small congregations to look after that church, and one has to recognise that this is a burden that falls on thriving parishes.

There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution and, as Ysenda Maxtone Graham made clear, there needs to be a range of solutions, including greater involvement of the laity, the possibility of giving responsibility for more churches to local charities or trusts, and the setting up of ‘festival churches’, which have services only for the major festivals of the Church. We also need to see how we can make church buildings more serviceable to the wider community, so that they can be used as much as possible and not simply for Sunday worship.

For many people the presence of a church in rural England is symbolic of the nation and the rural way of life, and a source of support and comfort even for those who are not regular churchgoers. We should start with the very clear premise that the Church of England is a national church and should therefore ensure a Christian presence in every community.Rt Hon. Canon Sir Tony Baldry, MPSecond Church Estates Commissioner,Church Buildings Council, London SW1

A western perimeter

Sir: Anne Applebaum’s article (‘Putin’s grand strategy’, 21 February) graphically illustrates the threat that Putin poses to western unity. But isn’t it true that Putin, by showing his hand so blatantly in Ukraine, is making it easier for the West to create a defendable perimeter to contain future Russian aggression, behind which those countries that want to be part of the West can be secure? Such a perimeter would enable the West, over time, to consolidate western collective security, and build western economic and political resilience.Clive ChristieAberystwyth, Wales

Taxing issue

Sir: Toby Young (Status anxiety, 21 February) confesses some doubt as to whether the citizen should pay only the tax which can be demanded of him under the black letter of the taxing statute, or abide by the spirit of the law and pay what the legislators have deemed to be fair.

Mr Young is pondering a problem of wider significance than he perhaps realises. He ought to consult his colleague, Matthew Parris, who in his autobiography, Chance Witness, expiates on the citizen’s need for certainty in the law, and the danger to that certainty from the application by the courts of the rules of natural justice. I think that no matter how unfair the results may sometimes be, it is better for Mr Young and the rest of us that our rights and liabilities under statute are based on the specific wording of the statute.Robert AngusAllendale, Northumberland

Actioning action

Sir: Perhaps Dot Wordsworth could take this up. Is there any branch of public service which has not been infected by Orwellian Newspeak? I had a telephone conversation yesterday with a young woman at a well-known museum about a refund for a course that had been cancelled at short notice. After waiting for two weeks, I am still without my refund, I informed her. Her reply, after a longish wait at my end, was that ‘the situation is being reviewed by several managers and once it has been approved will be actioned by our managers’. How many managers does it take to kick a can down the road, one wonders?Maureen FinucaneRichmond, Surrey

Dear Mary’s secret codes

Sir: Are the first lines of Mary’s problem-solving answers taking the form of cryptic crossword clues? From recent issues: You can’t ask her without infringing it (7 February). Insinuate from the beginning that you are ringing on behalf of the petitioner (7 February). There is no need to kiss at all in this scenario (14 February). As far as I can see, this is either coincidence or someone at The Spectator is transmitting coded messages regarding Liberty, Iran and the French Connection. Considering the changeable atmosphere we’re currently experiencing over here, I advise the editor to keep an eye on what his publication is (perhaps subliminally) transmitting.Mark DaniellBuenos Aires, Argentina

Satire in the States

Sir: While William Cook may find no humour in certain British TV shows, to state that satire does not work on television over-generalises (Arts, 21 February). He apparently can’t see across the Atlantic. Jon Stewart, South Park, certainly Stephen Colbert and John Oliver (a Brit!) all demonstrate that satire can be — and is — communicated via the ‘one-eyed god’ of television.William PateLeander, Texas

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9451762/spectator-letters-why-rural-churches-are-so-important-and-the-best-use-for-them/feed/121 February 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9448392/australian-letters-14/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9448392/australian-letters-14/#commentsThu, 19 Feb 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9448392Japanese numbers Sir I refer to the article No Aussie Knighthood for Winston (31 January). Whilst I agree with the overall gist, the author must be corrected regarding the true… Read more

Sir I refer to the article No Aussie Knighthood for Winston (31 January). Whilst I agree with the overall gist, the author must be corrected regarding the true size of the Japanese army that invaded Malaya in 1941.

A recently discovered Shinto shrine in the Japanese cemetery in Singapore reveals the true size of General Yamashita’s army. Inscribed on the shrine are the words, in Japanese, ‘Here lie entombed over 10,000. A monument to the faithful who died in battle.’ These ashes were originally contained in a Shinto shrine and pagoda erected at the command of General Yamashita in May 1942, its intention being to commemorate those who had fallen in the Malayan and Sumatran campaigns; this was announced in the Singapore Syonan Times dated 8th May 1942. The shrine was completed in September 1942, but fearful of desecration by the advancing Allies both the shrine and pagoda were destroyed by the Japanese in 1945 and the ashes moved to their present location.

By applying comparative combat fatality rates (not casualty rates) it is possible to use the figure of ‘over 10,000’ ashes to calculate the approximate size of the Japanese forces in the Malayan campaign of 1941-42. Sumatra involved only the very brief battle for the Dutch oil refinery at Palembang where overall Japanese casualties were very low.

Locations in World War II where some of the fighting was at its fiercest were Omaha Beach on D-Day and the campaigns in the Pacific for Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The US fatality rate at Omaha Beach was in the order of 4-5 per cent, whilst at Iwo Jim and Okinawa it was 6 per cent. It is known that the opposition faced by the Japanese in Malaya was fairly weak, but even if the highest combat fatality rate of 6 per cent is applied, which seems unlikely, the Japanese forces must have numbered over 160,000. The Monument is still there and can be seen today in the cemetery in Chuan Hoe Avenue. Copies of the Syonan Times for May and September 1942 can be obtained through the Singapore Government.

It has been agreed that General Percival’s army numbered in the region of 88,000, of which some 45 per cent were young, undertrained Indians, many of whom had hardly got used to wearing any footwear let alone army boots. He was supported by 158 obsolete planes as against 800 modern Japanese aircraft which included the Mitsubishi Zero, at that time equalled only by the Spitfire or the Messerschmitt 109. Percival had estimated the enemy force at about 150,000, a figure that was ridiculed as the excuse of the defeated; the above figures would seem to indicate that he was about right.Michael Arnold
South Coogee, Australia

In defence of Kids Company

Sir: Your piece ‘The problem with Kids Company’ (14 February) bears an important message: charities need to be transparent and accountable. That’s why Kids Company was independently audited twice last year alone, and our financial structures and functioning put to the test. We also have auditors working alongside us, verifying our outputs and outcomes in relation to our government grant.

All such audits have been positive. Several pieces of independent research were carried out capturing our clinical work and our staff wellbeing — two of these found our staff satisfaction and productivity to be above 90 per cent. Some 600 staff, almost 10,000 volunteers and 500 clinical students worked at Kids Company last year.

It wouldn’t be surprising if in stressful circumstances working with troubled children and a lack of money there were a handful of disgruntled individuals with things to say to journalists. I can take all this on my fat chin, so charmingly depicted by your artist! However it is another matter as to whether Kids Company’s dedicated staff, volunteers, over 77,000 generous donors and the children we help deserve to be treated in such way.Camila Batmanghelidjh
Kids Company, London SE5

Objectionable measures

Sir: Rod Liddle sets the bar formidably high in his amusing reading of the Guardian’s linguistic idiocies (14 February), but that’s no reason not to try to clear it. Years ago I used the phrase ‘gentlemen’s measures’ in a column for the paper — an archaic term, perhaps, but not an offensive one. Yet it was unacceptable to a section editor, who told me it was demeaning to women. It went in as ‘large drinks’! However, if you refer, as one of the paper’s many well-bred lady columnists did, to ‘little icky Christianity’, nobody seems offended at all.Michael Henderson
London W13

Who Ed owes

Sir: Peter Oborne declares that ‘if Ed Miliband does become Prime Minister, he will have done so without owing anything to anybody’ (‘In praise of Ed Miliband’, 14 February). I disagree. He owes virtually everything to the trade union leaders who secured the Labour leadership for him, and that is profoundly dangerous for this country. He has done nothing to confront them with the cold reality that the UK has to live within its means. If he is elected, those same trade union leaders will expect a ‘Syriza/Podemos’ policy of economic delusion and fantasy. Surely a leader’s first responsibility is to warn and educate those around him of the true facts of life? Miliband fails that test abysmally.John Jenkins
Cardiff

Hands-off repairs

Sir: Alexander Chancellor applauds the imminent arrival of the driverless car (Long life, 14 February). But what happens when one of these wonders of the modern world breaks down in the centre lane of the motorway? Will the RAC send a driverless patrol car to shunt the hapless vehicle onto the hard shoulder where it will be expected to repair itself?Nicholas Barrett
Hove, East Sussex

Sir: Your piece ‘The problem with Kids Company’ (14 February) bears an important message: charities need to be transparent and accountable. That’s why Kids Company was independently audited twice last year alone, and our financial structures and functioning put to the test. We also have auditors working alongside us, verifying our outputs and outcomes in relation to our government grant.

All such audits have been positive. Several pieces of independent research were carried out capturing our clinical work and our staff wellbeing — two of these found our staff satisfaction and productivity to be above 90 per cent. Some 600 staff, almost 10,000 volunteers and 500 clinical students worked at Kids Company last year.

It wouldn’t be surprising if in stressful circumstances working with troubled children and a lack of money there were a handful of disgruntled individuals with things to say to journalists. I can take all this on my fat chin, so charmingly depicted by your artist! However it is another matter as to whether Kids Company’s dedicated staff, volunteers, over 77,000 generous donors and the children we help deserve to be treated in such way.Camila Batmanghelidjh
Kids Company, London SE5

Objectionable measures

Sir: Rod Liddle sets the bar formidably high in his amusing reading of the Guardian’s linguistic idiocies (14 February), but that’s no reason not to try to clear it. Years ago I used the phrase ‘gentlemen’s measures’ in a column for the paper — an archaic term, perhaps, but not an offensive one. Yet it was unacceptable to a section editor, who told me it was demeaning to women. It went in as ‘large drinks’! However, if you refer, as one of the paper’s many well-bred lady columnists did, to ‘little icky Christianity’, nobody seems offended at all.Michael Henderson
London W13

Who Ed owes

Sir: Peter Oborne declares that ‘if Ed Miliband does become Prime Minister, he will have done so without owing anything to anybody’ (‘In praise of Ed Miliband’, 14 February). I disagree. He owes virtually everything to the trade union leaders who secured the Labour leadership for him, and that is profoundly dangerous for this country. He has done nothing to confront them with the cold reality that the UK has to live within its means. If he is elected, those same trade union leaders will expect a ‘Syriza/Podemos’ policy of economic delusion and fantasy. Surely a leader’s first responsibility is to warn and educate those around him of the true facts of life? Miliband fails that test abysmally.John Jenkins
Cardiff

We don’t buy it

Sir: The Tories’ proposing a previously failed idea to extend the right to buy to housing associations and, more nonsensically, to give away homes to tenants who have been in work for a year is preposterous (Politics, 14 February). What about the housing associations that have collectively borrowed £60 billion to build homes — borrowing which depends on having an income to repay it? How would these homes be replaced? The idea is simply bonkers.

We have a housing crisis because we have not built nearly enough of the right homes in the right places for a generation. Housing associations are geared towards ending the housing crisis by building more, but the right to buy is a stumbling block. For housing associations that already have the preserved right to buy, the discounts of up to £102,500 make the government commitment to replace every home one for one a hollow joke.

Opposing the right to buy is not opposing aspiration. Over the last decade, housing associations have sold 82,000 shared ownership properties and continue to develop new homes to meet the aspirations of as many people as possible to have a decent, affordable home.David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation,
London WC1

Wellington’s wins

Sir: In his review of David Crane’s Went the Day Well? Witnessing Waterloo (7 February), Nigel Jones is unfair to Wellington. Unlike Napoleon, he never tried to conquer the world, nor did he see himself as a reincarnation of Alexander the Great. However, from Talavera to Toulouse, he sustained a five-year 100 per cent record against some of Napoleon’s finest marshals. A superb organiser and a defensive general by temperament, he understood the value of opportunistic offence, as in his brilliant improvisation at Salamanca which smashed Marmont’s army and enabled the liberation of Madrid. The march from northern Portugal to Vitoria and his decisive victory there was one of the finest campaigns of the entire war. Of course Blucher’s late presence at Waterloo was crucial, but Napoleon knew that he was taking on two armies, expected to win, and failed.Peter Foster
Almaty, Kazakhstan

Some children and ‘it’

Sir: If a gender-neutral pronoun is needed (Rod Liddle, 7 February), why not follow the lead of E. Nesbit and use ‘it’ as she did, for instance when writing of a group of children: ‘Everyone got its legs kicked or its feet trodden on … but no-one seemed to mind’.Sophie Kinsella
London SW1

Hands-off repairs

Sir: Alexander Chancellor applauds the imminent arrival of the driverless car (Long life, 14 February). But what happens when one of these wonders of the modern world breaks down in the centre lane of the motorway? Will the RAC send a driverless patrol car to shunt the hapless vehicle onto the hard shoulder where it will be expected to repair itself?Nicholas Barrett
Hove, East Sussex

Sir: Philip Murphy’s ‘Sir’ Bob Carr of Italy article (Spectator Australia, 7 February) refers, in relation to Prince Philip being made a Knight of the Order of Australia (AK), to bringing his Australian award into line with that of his son. What seems to have been missed in the commentary regarding Prince Philip’s AK is that the amendments to the letters patent made to grant it give his AK precedence over the AK granted to Prince Charles in 1981. Did Tony Abbott understand that royal protocol would dictate that an AK be awarded to Prince Philip when he reinstated Knights and Dames in the Order of Australia?Grant Parker
Neutral Bay NSW

Defending Churchill

I was under the impression that the attack from the landward side by the Japanese took the Allied forces by surprise as if anything they expected an attack from the sea. The heavy cannon faced out to sea and they did not have artillery facing landwards for this reason. Situation reminiscent of Aqaba in WW1 which enabled Lawrence of Arabia`s Arab forces to attack and achieve victory from the landward side. If the British had artillery on landward side then things would probably have been different, but I don’t see how more naval vessels would have helped that much anyway seeing as those that did come were quickly dispatched by the Japanese air force and any more might have just led to more losses. I don’t know how effective naval vessels would have been against a landward attack.

Mr Barnes said Churchill abandoned them to their fate. What did Mr Barnes expect him to do at that point? He had to face the danger of a potential German invasion of Britain—if that disaster happened that would have prolonged the war by a long way and who can be sure of the outcome? At that time he could not afford the troops to send to Singapore, and what other planes etc. Then the USA might have been pre-occupied with rescuing Britain instead of concentrating on the Japanese. As it was the British just got their army out of France in time. It took predominantly the USA to defeat the Japanese and that was not easy even for them. Trying to rescue Singapore could have lost the war.

The harshness of the Versailles treaty on Germany was predominantly due to the French, not the British who thought it was too severe, but the French insisted. The Japanese were not squeezed out by the treaty of Versailles—they always wanted to take over much more of China than those German concessions in China from the beginning—later they did invade China in 1937—as a result the USA placed the oil embargo on Japan then Japan attacked Pearl Harbour. Is Mr Barnes suggesting that the Allies should have immorally handed more of China over to the Japanese at the end of WW1 like they wanted? Even then, given their behavior during WW2, does he think they would have stopped there and not invaded the rest of Australasia? Why doesn’t Mr Barnes go on TV and air that view? I’m sure our major trading partners would be very impressed. Even the Japanese might be embarrassed.

In the Gallipoli campaign there is a story that the Turkish side had run out of ammunition.

So Ataturk told them to aim their rifles at the Allied troops and pretend—the bluff was successful and the Allied troops did not charge the Turkish positions—if they had then the Turkish side would have been overrun and the Allies would have been victorious and Churchill’s plan would have worked. As it was the delay allowed the Turks to call up ammunition and re-inforcements. It reminds me of the battle of Crete in WW2 when the Allies would have won if not for one Allied commander losing his nerve when he thought his position was untenable and ordering a retreat ,when he was in fact winning.

During WW1 the military strategy had not adapted to the machine gun yet and losses were terrible everywhere, not just in Gallipoli. Churchill was largely responsible for the invention of the tank to save lives.

Mr Barnes seems to be implying Britain should have stayed neutral in WW1, but Britain had pledged to guarantee Belgium’s neutrality under the longstanding Treaty of London of 1839 when they declared war in 1914. Mr Barnes complains of Churchill leaving Singapore troops to their fate in WW2. Would he have Britain leave Belgium to it’s fate in WW1? Similarly, Britain had no choice but to honour it’s treaty with Poland when Hitler invaded.Geoffrey Archos
Melbourne, Victoria

A vandalistic proposal

Sir: Igor Toronyi-Lalic (Farewell, ENO, 7 February) displays a lack of judgment in advocating ENO’s demise and in suggesting that opera needs no opera houses, companies or subsidy. That its new arts editor should plead for the closure of England’s great repertory opera company is unworthy of The Spectator.

Toronyi-Lalic is wrong to think that the hundreds of thousands of English opera-goers will be content with performances by itinerant ensembles only. Small-scale performances presented anywhere can be moving, but the public demand productions of a scale that befits the art form as it has grown over the last four centuries. An orchestrated ‘farewell’ to ENO would be an act of cultural vandalism on a company that is admired throughout the world and which (contrary to what Toronyi-Lalic says) gave the world premiere of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes, which it commissioned.

John Berry’s era has kept ENO at the cutting edge of interpretations of the classics and the new. There have been a few failures, as risk demands, but such risk must be supported. It is the successes that are in the majority, leading ENO productions to be seen in 42 countries and in operatic centres from New York to Munich.

As the former general director of the Opera Theatre of St Louis and the Santa Fe Opera, I fought battles for this art form for decades. The ENO was always a model for us, and it remains an inspiring example of what an opera company should be.Richard Gaddes
New York

Sir: Igor Toronyi-Lalic (Farewell, ENO, 7 February) displays a lack of judgment in advocating ENO’s demise and in suggesting that opera needs no opera houses, companies or subsidy. That its new arts editor should plead for the closure of England’s great repertory opera company is unworthy of The Spectator.

Toronyi-Lalic is wrong to think that the hundreds of thousands of English opera-goers will be content with performances by itinerant ensembles only. Small-scale performances presented anywhere can be moving, but the public demand productions of a scale that befits the art form as it has grown over the last four centuries. An orchestrated ‘farewell’ to ENO would be an act of cultural vandalism on a company that is admired throughout the world and which (contrary to what Toronyi-Lalic says) gave the world premiere of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes, which it commissioned.

John Berry’s era has kept ENO at the cutting edge of interpretations of the classics and the new. There have been a few failures, as risk demands, but such risk must be supported. It is the successes that are in the majority, leading ENO productions to be seen in 42 countries and in operatic centres from New York to Munich.

As the former general director of the Opera Theatre of St Louis and the Santa Fe Opera, I fought battles for this art form for decades. The ENO was always a model for us, and it remains an inspiring example of what an opera company should be.Richard Gaddes
New York

Sorry, wrong number

Sir: I was interested by Peter Robins’s article about the world’s most expensive typing errors (‘Dangerous characters’, 7 February). Here is one reported in the New York Review of Books (27 May 1993):

Unfortunately, Abrams didn’t know how to set up a secret account in which to deposit the expected $10 million from Brunei [to fund the Contras]. He went to Alan Fiers of the CIA and Oliver North of the NSC staff for tutoring, and chose to follow North’s advice. North gave him an index card with the number of a secret Swiss account, which North controlled; North’s secretary, Fawn Hall, accidentally transposed two digits in typing out the number on another card; Abrams gave the erroneous information to the Brunei foreign minister; and $10 million went into the account of a stranger from whom it took months to get it back.

This story gifted me a novel, Bleeding Hearts.Ian Rankin
Edinburgh

Trigger warning needed

Sir: The fatal flaw in Brendan O’Neill’s otherwise excellent article ‘The New PC from A to Z’ (7 February) was his framing of it within the structure of the hegemonic, hierarchical western alphabet, with its tacit assumptions of ‘order’ and cultural superiority. This offended me so much that I had to go and lie down in a darkened room for several hours, and I have banned The Spectator from my ‘safe space’.Frank Key
London E11

The old political correctness

Sir: Damian Thompson is right to alert us to the groundswell of political correctness among the educated young (‘March of the new Political Correctness’, 7 February). He is, however, wrong in describing this as a new phenomenon. As an English undergraduate at Cambridge in the late 1980s, I recall the abrasive impact of Samuel Richardson’s Pamela and its ‘anti-feminist’ values upon the tender sensibilities of my generation of embryonic Guardianistas. Luckily for us, the antidote was at hand. At the end of one supervision — Richardson’s sermonising, sentimental pornography having provoked essay after outraged essay, each more shrilly censorious than the last — our Don, the venerable Dr John Casey, was moved to exclaim: ‘Oh, for Christ’s sake. You modern undergraduates really are the most ghastly bunch of prigs.’Sandra Hinton
London

Charles’s good heart

Sir: Do let’s stop knocking Charles (‘The Charles problem’, 31 January)! What he needs in these challenging times is encouragement and support — not the drip of constant nagging. He has a heart that is in the right place, and a thoughtful mind which is full of ideas. His entourage, shambolic as it may be, surely requires a military-style chief-of-staff: a kind of Alanbrooke to his Winston Churchill, both as an organiser, and a wise check on more eccentric fancies.Alistair Horne
Turville, Oxfordshire

Trouble at the printers

Sir: John Sutherland’s generous and amusing review of my memoir Quite a Good Time to Be Born (24 January) contains a serious error which must be corrected, if only to appease the outraged spirit of the late Tom Rosenthal. It was not his firm Secker & Warburg who published the appallingly printed first edition of my novel Out of the Shelter in 1970, but Macmillan, who were using a very early and imperfect method of computerised typesetting. Tom, as head of Secker, published my next novel Changing Places in 1975 after Macmillan and two other publishers passed on it, and its success transformed my career as a novelist, for which I remain eternally grateful to him.David Lodge
Birmingham

Voluntary bitching

Sir: Matthew Parris’s third explanation for bitchiness within charities is the real one (24 January). When people work for nothing, they expect to be able to operate however they choose. Furthermore, some feel able to give free rein to unreasonable behaviour in a manner they dare not in their day jobs. My limited and anecdotal exposure to charities, suggests that they can be among the most dysfunctional organisations in the free world. However, thank God for them anyway — and for those with the patience and restraint to work within them.Gregory Shenkman
London W8

Sir: Mary Wakefield rightly praises Médecins sans Frontières but makes many misinformed claims about Oxfam and aid in general (31 January). Contrary to her suggestion, money donated to Oxfam and other charities’ emergency appeals must be spent solely on that crisis. This is stipulated by the Charity Commission and confirmed by our publicly available audited accounts. It is regrettably not possible for our website to provide a running commentary of developments in Liberia, but the British public can rest assured that their generous support is helping to save lives and to put lives back together. Indeed some of our funds in Liberia were spent on the same public health broadcasts that Ms Wakefield lauds as helping tackle the myths and fears around Ebola. I have just returned from a seven-day trip to west Africa during which I met our Liberian community health volunteers, who go door to door seeking out sick people and ensuring suspected Ebola cases go for treatment as early as possible. Initial findings indicate that survival rates of Ebola sufferers who were sought out by Oxfam volunteers were 19 per cent higher than other referrals.

Ms Wakefield does have one valid criticism. In hindsight we should have recognised the Ebola crisis much sooner. Since September, responding to it has been our top priority and continues to be.Mark Goldring, chief executive, Oxfam GB Oxford

The appropriate term

Sir: Rod Liddle is right that the approved terms for non-white people seem to shift by the day, and he’s already behind the curve (31 January). The term in favour at the moment is ‘BAME’. Watching it evolve has been enlightening. For a while now the term BME has been used, meaning ‘black and minority ethnic’. No one has paused to ask why, since Asians are by far the largest ethnic minority in the UK, we don’t say ‘Asian and minority ethnic’. That would be logical, but somehow I don’t think logic is the issue here. Thus the Asian community is lumped with the undifferentiated also-rans. From time to time I have seen BAME used, but only to spell out the ‘and’. It’s only recently that people — not entirely consistently — have started pretending that the term was ‘black, Asian and minority ethnic’ all along.

Whether anyone outside the pages of the Guardian actually uses such terms is another question entirely.John PritchardBasingstoke, Hants

Homeopathy for cows

Sir: Nick Cohen’s attack on the Prince of Wales (‘The Charles problem’, 31 January) includes an unjustified slur on the successes of homeopathy as being largely placebo effects. He should try Arnica 30 next time he has a bruise: the pain will quickly vanish. More neutrally, my brother and I were raised on a farm in west Wales milking cows. They suffer mastitis due to their overloaded udders. We used to give penicillin for this, which meant the milk from that cow could not be used for a couple of days. Now my brother uses homeopathic remedies and the cows hardly ever get mastitis. Cows do not experience the placebo effect.Richard FordhamHants

Vinyl is sublime

Sir: Peter Phillips’s otherwise illuminating article (‘Saved by Spotify’, 31 January) on the state of the recorded music industry only tells part of the story. Paradoxically, while streaming and downloads are booming, so are sales of vinyl, particularly among those who have grown up with digital music. There has also been a revival of interest in local record shops. People are starting to recognise that the format influences how we listen to music. Spotify is great for using on the bus but listening to an LP is a complete aesthetic experience. Don’t write off the physical format just yet.Nicholas Berry Independent Classical SpecialistsCambridge

Without weakness

Sir: I hate to take issue with Ysenda Maxtone Graham (‘Lapsing into a comma’. 24 January), but there is no weak comma in ‘To be or not to be, that is the question’. This particular comma is as strong as an ox. The first half of the line is not in itself a sentence; it’s merely in apposition to the second half. No other punctuation — except perhaps a dash — would do.John Julius NorwichLondon W9

Reliable sources

Sir: I agree with Carola Binney’s article (‘Making history’, 31 January) on the importance of fiction to the aspiring historian. Throughout my A-levels, I quoted in my history essays a diligent diarist called Robin Cowper who began writing his journal during the reign of Henry VII and was apparently still scribbling busily at the time of the Restoration of Charles II. His pithy entries added a human touch to events such as the burning of Cranmer (‘a piteous sight: I am assured that grown men did weep’) or Cromwell’s dissolution of the Long Parliament (‘all this is naught but tomfoolerie’). He was never challenged, partly because I guarded him carefully to prevent him suffering the fate of another bogus source, ‘Bullfinch’s Encyclopaedia of Historical Facts’, which was rumbled when too many pupils started joining in the joke.J.C.H. MounseyFoxham, Wiltshire

Dry clean only

Sir: Alexander Chancellor complains about the inadequacies of dishwashers (Long life, 24 January). May I offer a solution? The real chore with washing up is not the washing part, which can be therapeutic, but the drying. Leaving it to drain is unsatisfactory, as the racks are tiny. A better solution is for him to wash the crockery and then place it in the dishwasher to dry, leaving it there until it is next required.Stephen FawbertLondon WC1

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http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9427841/letters-311/#commentsThu, 29 Jan 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9427841Non pas Charlie Sir: Like many people I too was shocked and horrified at the attack on the staff of Charlie Hebdo and other French nationals. I too said and… Read more

Sir: Like many people I too was shocked and horrified at the attack on the staff of Charlie Hebdo and other French nationals. I too said and posted: Je suis Charlie.

Then I became very angry that while 17 French nationals received French and international memorial recognition, thousands of victims continue to be forgotten by France and other nations.

These are the thousands who were and continue to be kidnapped, raped, tortured, sodomised, brutalised, crucified and beheaded by Isis and related groups, in Syria, Afghanistan and Nigeria, who are clearly not as important as 17 French nationals.

Je ne suis pas Charlie.

Je suis Syria, je suis Afghanistan and je suis Nigeria.

In Australia we have the Sydney Anglican Archbishop’s relief fund – I hope others who feel as I do will donate to it, or to a similar and dedicated Christian organisation working to relieve those in Syria, Afghanistan and Nigeria.(Mrs) Vivienne HarrodBallina NSW

What’s a degree worth?

Sir: Mark Mason’s article (‘Uni’s out’, 24 January) hits the nail on the head. A brief addendum: it is generally stated that graduates earn more over a lifetime than non-graduates — obviously a selling point to would-be students. This claim may be true in a very crude sense, but is meaningless without certain crucial caveats.

The main caveats are so obvious they barely need stating. It depends what you study (e.g. medicine vs media studies) and what university you go to. It depends on what class of degree you get (a lower second or less may prove a disqualification for entry to many professions and jobs). Finally — an obvious piece of economics — the more graduates there are, the lower their value is likely to become. To ignore these factors gives an inaccurate if not dishonest picture of the supposed financial benefits of a university education. Sadly many students are likely to end up with nothing more than a horrendous debt hanging over their heads and a loss of three or four years of earning capacity and real world experience.

Education, if it is anything, is a lifelong process of self-development which comes from many sources. As someone once put it — the only education worthy of the name is the one you give yourself.Michael TowseyLondon

Churchill’s education

Sir: Mark Mason asserts that Churchill did not go to university. This is only partially correct. He went to Sandhurst, considered by many employers to be a highly exacting degree-level course and intended for future army officers. Its motto is ‘Serve to Lead’. If all politicians were required to pass out of Sandhurst before being permitted to stand for election, we might well have better government. Can anyone imagine Cameron, Miliband or Clegg passing such a rigorous test of character?Jeremy M.J. HavardLondon SW3

Two-dishwasher solution

Sir: Alexander Chancellor bemoans the dishwasher (Long life, 24 January) but the solution is not to get rid of it, but to double up. With two dishwashers, side by side, one serves as a clean crockery and cutlery cupboard — items are drawn out when needed, used and once dirty are put into the adjacent dishwasher. Once full it can be turned on, and then it becomes the new cupboard, with the other dishwasher returning to its intended role. And so on. A dishwasher need never be emptied again.Gordon WilsonLondon SW11

The linking comma

Sir: Like Ysenda Maxtone Graham (‘Lapsing into a comma’, 24 January), I objected to the sequential use of commas when teaching A-level students at a London crammer in the early 1970s. Those students must by now be in their late fifties, and nearly all of them had been to ‘good’ schools. When I suggested punctuating long narrative sentences with semicolons, they looked blank. Full stops are perhaps less intimidating; and the linking comma can even be quite endearing in (for example) the novels of Penelope Fitzgerald.Brigid AllenCharlbury, Oxfordshire

Irregular meals

Sir: Matthew Parris’s piece (24 January) about mutual unpleasantness at charitable meetings reminds me of talking to a woman who organised the distribution of meals on wheels by paid staff on weekdays, but by volunteers at weekends. She said that weekends were a nightmare, as she could not trust the volunteers to turn up or stick to their schedules. Charitable help tends to be patchy. Voluntary service can sometimes occasion carelessness in the giver and disappointment in the intended recipient.Ron FarquharLondon SW10

Not just boys

Sir: I have always enjoyed John Sutherland’s critical work but was bewildered by one comment in his review of David Lodge’s memoir, Quite a good time to be born (Books, 24 January). Sutherland refers to the 1944 Education Act, which affected for the better the lives of so many of us born in the years before, during or just after the second world war. He asserts that the Butler Act ‘gave clever boys (but only clever boys) what was grandly called a “scholarship”.’ My understanding, as a beneficiary of that Act, is that however deliberately discriminatory it was, it did not exclude girls.Gillian HealeySheffield

Sir: Mark Mason’s article (‘Uni’s out’, 24 January) hits the nail on the head. A brief addendum: it is generally stated that graduates earn more over a lifetime than non-graduates — obviously a selling point to would-be students. This claim may be true in a very crude sense, but is meaningless without certain crucial caveats.

The main caveats are so obvious they barely need stating. It depends what you study (e.g. medicine vs media studies) and what university you go to. It depends on what class of degree you get (a lower second or less may prove a disqualification for entry to many professions and jobs). Finally — an obvious piece of economics — the more graduates there are, the lower their value is likely to become. To ignore these factors gives an inaccurate if not dishonest picture of the supposed financial benefits of a university education. Sadly many students are likely to end up with nothing more than a horrendous debt hanging over their heads and a loss of three or four years of earning capacity and real world experience.

Education, if it is anything, is a lifelong process of self-development which comes from many sources. As someone once put it — the only education worthy of the name is the one you give yourself.Michael Towsey
London

Churchill’s education

Sir: Mark Mason asserts that Churchill did not go to university. This is only partially correct. He went to Sandhurst, considered by many employers to be a highly exacting degree-level course and intended for future army officers. Its motto is ‘Serve to Lead’. If all politicians were required to pass out of Sandhurst before being permitted to stand for election, we might well have better government. Can anyone imagine Cameron, Miliband or Clegg passing such a rigorous test of character?Jeremy M.J. Havard
London SW3

Two-dishwasher solution

Sir: Alexander Chancellor bemoans the dishwasher (Long life, 24 January) but the solution is not to get rid of it, but to double up. With two dishwashers, side by side, one serves as a clean crockery and cutlery cupboard — items are drawn out when needed, used and once dirty are put into the adjacent dishwasher. Once full it can be turned on, and then it becomes the new cupboard, with the other dishwasher returning to its intended role. And so on. A dishwasher need never be emptied again.Gordon Wilson
London SW11

The linking comma

Sir: Like Ysenda Maxtone Graham (‘Lapsing into a comma’, 24 January), I objected to the sequential use of commas when teaching A-level students at a London crammer in the early 1970s. Those students must by now be in their late fifties, and nearly all of them had been to ‘good’ schools. When I suggested punctuating long narrative sentences with semicolons, they looked blank. Full stops are perhaps less intimidating; and the linking comma can even be quite endearing in (for example) the novels of Penelope Fitzgerald.Brigid Allen
Charlbury, Oxfordshire

Irregular meals

Sir: Matthew Parris’s piece (24 January) about mutual unpleasantness at charitable meetings reminds me of talking to a woman who organised the distribution of meals on wheels by paid staff on weekdays, but by volunteers at weekends. She said that weekends were a nightmare, as she could not trust the volunteers to turn up or stick to their schedules. Charitable help tends to be patchy. Voluntary service can sometimes occasion carelessness in the giver and disappointment in the intended recipient.Ron Farquhar
London SW10

Not just boys

Sir: I have always enjoyed John Sutherland’s critical work but was bewildered by one comment in his review of David Lodge’s memoir, Quite a good time to be born (Books, 24 January). Sutherland refers to the 1944 Education Act, which affected for the better the lives of so many of us born in the years before, during or just after the second world war. He asserts that the Butler Act ‘gave clever boys (but only clever boys) what was grandly called a “scholarship”.’ My understanding, as a beneficiary of that Act, is that however deliberately discriminatory it was, it did not exclude girls.Gillian Healey
Sheffield

Likely lad

Sir: Perhaps Dot Wordsworth might comment, but am I alone in loathing this new, I assume American, fad for using the word ‘likely’ as an adverb? I am prompted to write because now even our great Taki is at it: Turing ‘likely won the war’, he wrote in last week’s column. No Turing didn’t, he was ‘likely to have won the war’. At this rate western civilisation is not likely to (or must we concede, in defeat, ‘will likely not’) keep its present foes from the gates. To quote Sassoon, ‘O Jesus make it stop!’Christian Major
Bromley, Kent

Boar vs tiger

Sir: Alexander Chancellor writes of the wild boar menace (Long life, 17 January). The problem is not confined to southern England. I recently visited a rubber plantation in Sumatra. The manager paused to confer with a group of rubber tappers, who mentioned that wild boar were a growing difficulty. One of the tappers then reminded us that until a few years ago tigers had been quite common in the area and that their re-introduction would see off the wild boar. This suggestion did not meet with approval.Peter Moss
London W10

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9425971/letters-whats-a-degree-worth/feed/024 January 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9422482/australian-letters-12/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9422482/australian-letters-12/#commentsThu, 22 Jan 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9422482Lucky Country Sir: I run a slashing contracting business and cattle at Byron Bay. I just sat down here at Broadbeach for a few days with my three boys and… Read more

Sir: I run a slashing contracting business and cattle at Byron Bay. I just sat down here at Broadbeach for a few days with my three boys and wife, and was catching up with some old Speccies. Would you mind passing on my sincere gratitude to Nick Cater for (in his article 8 November) giving credit to the pioneering, by an Australian, of the wool and refrigeration industries in Australia in the 19thC. It’s been a grudge and frustration of mine (and Dad’s) for many years that somehow TS Mort has never been properly recognised for his personal and financial contribution to these and many other activities that helped give us the global community we have today. His statue stands at the very centre of Sydney, yet he is virtually forgotten from our history and indeed educationally unknown. Yeah so thanks Nick. Good piece..Rob MortMyocum, NSW

The roots of radicalism

Sir: Qanta Ahmed is to be praised for her dissection of Islamism and her call for a reformation of Islam (‘Let there be light’, 17 January). That call has been muted for decades but is now growing louder, and it is right to promote Muslims who see a way forward out of their current predicament. But her view of an ‘authentic Islam’ that is untainted by Islamist interpretation is surprisingly naive. Islamists do not, in fact, distort classical Islam to the extent that Ahmed suggests. Offensive jihad is a doctrine in the Quran and was a practice of Mohammed. Harsh sharia laws pre‑date modern Islamism by many centuries. Most of today’s Islamists (who refer to themselves as Salafis) do not call for a new form of their faith, but for a return to the days of the Prophet and his companions (the Salaf). If there is to be reform, Muslims must face the problem of how to overcome the Quran’s own verses ordering hatred for non-Muslims and war against them.

Fortunately, the excellent Douglas Murray took up this theme correctly, placing Islamic scripture and history in their rightful context and showing how radicalism is rooted in ‘authentic’ Islam. Mohammed ordered the assassinations of ten poets who had offended him: that is the inspiration for the Charlie Hebdo attack. Reform in Islam will not happen until honest and right-minded Muslims like Ahmed work alongside non-Muslims like Murray and others who seek a fact-based evaluation of the religion in both its spiritual and ideological form.Dr Denis MacEoinNewcastle upon Tyne

Islam vs Islamism

Sir: Qanta Ahmed’s article was excellent. Kipling once wrote that ‘where there is Islam there is an intelligible civilisation’. Where there is Islamism, there isn’t. Dr Ahmed makes this clear, to us and to her fellow Muslims.Allan MassieSelkirk

Robot medics

Sir: Mary Wakefield’s column about Google replacing the local GP (‘Would you put your life in the care of Dr Droid?’, 17 January) unexpectedly reminded me of my late father-in-law Bill Dorsch’s experience as a surgeon at the Broken Hill Base Hospital at the start of the second world war. At the time, he was one of two surgeons at the hospital with German names (though both were Australian): Drs Wilhelm Dorsch and Franziska Schlink. There were no other surgeons within 200 miles. A day or so after the declaration of war on Germany, their lists emptied because of anti-German feelings. But within two weeks, the same patients who had taken themselves off the list were back; their conditions did not share their prejudices.

Just as there were no substitutes for surgeons Dorsch and Schlink, I believe there will be no electronic substitute for a well-trained, competent general medical practitioner in the foreseeable future.Leon Le LeuGoogong, Australia

Clean cars and class

Sir: Toby Young is right to suggest that people with clean cars are probably those who throw their litter out of the window (Status anxiety, 17 January). Several years ago, my mother, grandmother and I were stuck for some 20 minutes in a jam on a country road in very hot weather. When one of the young men in the car in front threw his beer can out of the passenger window, it was promptly returned to him by my indignant grandmother. The young man was too surprised to say anything, but minutes later, his three companions ‘mooned’ us from the back seat. I don’t know whether the youths came from the bottom of the social pyramid, but my grandmother did observe that their car was considerably cleaner than mine and that the offender was wearing a sleeveless ‘wifebeater’ T-shirt. We also spotted a tattoo on one bare buttock.Kathy WaltonChorleywood, Hertfordshire

Apology to Iman Muldoon

In our article ‘A Muslim ambush – Weekend Sunrise bares its anti-Israel bias’ (republished online as ‘A Muslim’s ambush: how I was stitched up by Australian breakfast TV’) published on Jan 10 2015, we published criticisms made by Dr Qanta Ahmed about Iman Muldoon, a segment producer at Seven Network, including accusing Ms Muldoon of unprofessional conduct and biased coverage. We accept Iman Muldoon did not produce the story described in the article and has been unfairly criticised. The Spectator apologises to Iman Muldoon for any hurt or embarrassment caused.The Editor, The Spectator Australia

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9422482/australian-letters-12/feed/024 January 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9419932/spectator-letters-islam-and-the-roots-of-radicalism/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9419932/spectator-letters-islam-and-the-roots-of-radicalism/#commentsThu, 22 Jan 2015 04:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9419932The roots of radicalism Sir: Qanta Ahmed is to be praised for her dissection of Islamism and her call for a reformation of Islam (‘Let there be light’, 17 January).… Read more

Sir: Qanta Ahmed is to be praised for her dissection of Islamism and her call for a reformation of Islam (‘Let there be light’, 17 January). That call has been muted for decades but is now growing louder, and it is right to promote Muslims who see a way forward out of their current predicament. But her view of an ‘authentic Islam’ that is untainted by Islamist interpretation is surprisingly naive. Islamists do not, in fact, distort classical Islam to the extent that Ahmed suggests. Offensive jihad is a doctrine in the Quran and was a practice of Mohammed. Harsh sharia laws pre‑date modern Islamism by many centuries. Most of today’s Islamists (who refer to themselves as Salafis) do not call for a new form of their faith, but for a return to the days of the Prophet and his companions (the Salaf). If there is to be reform, Muslims must face the problem of how to overcome the Quran’s own verses ordering hatred for non-Muslims and war against them.

Fortunately, the excellent Douglas Murray took up this theme correctly, placing Islamic scripture and history in their rightful context and showing how radicalism is rooted in ‘authentic’ Islam. Mohammed ordered the assassinations of ten poets who had offended him: that is the inspiration for the Charlie Hebdo attack. Reform in Islam will not happen until honest and right-minded Muslims like Ahmed work alongside non-Muslims like Murray and others who seek a fact-based evaluation of the religion in both its spiritual and ideological form.Dr Denis MacEoinNewcastle upon Tyne

Islam vs Islamism

Sir: Qanta Ahmed’s article was excellent. Kipling once wrote that ‘where there is Islam there is an intelligible civilisation’. Where there is Islamism, there isn’t. Dr Ahmed makes this clear, to us and to her fellow Muslims.Allan MassieSelkirk

Turing test

Sir: Your leading article last week (‘Cameron vs Charlie’, 17 January), made the following argument: it would be wrong, apparently, to enact any laws that make it easier for the security services to decipher digital messages, but it would be absolutely fine if they could ‘hire a latter-day Alan Turing’ to enable them to do the same thing. This may have been intended as just a bit of frivolity, but it is clearly nonsense. The two approaches are morally equivalent, both in terms of intent and of result.Johnny CameronPewsey, Wiltshire

Robot medics

Sir: Mary Wakefield’s column about Google replacing the local GP (‘Would you put your life in the care of Dr Droid?’, 17 January) unexpectedly reminded me of my late father-in-law Bill Dorsch’s experience as a surgeon at the Broken Hill Base Hospital at the start of the second world war. At the time, he was one of two surgeons at the hospital with German names (though both were Australian): Drs Wilhelm Dorsch and Franziska Schlink. There were no other surgeons within 200 miles. A day or so after the declaration of war on Germany, their lists emptied because of anti-German feelings. But within two weeks, the same patients who had taken themselves off the list were back; their conditions did not share their prejudices.

Just as there were no substitutes for surgeons Dorsch and Schlink, I believe there will be no electronic substitute for a well-trained, competent general medical practitioner in the foreseeable future.Leon Le LeuGoogong, Australia

Clean cars and class

Sir: Toby Young is right to suggest that people with clean cars are probably those who throw their litter out of the window (Status anxiety, 17 January). Several years ago, my mother, grandmother and I were stuck for some 20 minutes in a jam on a country road in very hot weather. When one of the young men in the car in front threw his beer can out of the passenger window, it was promptly returned to him by my indignant grandmother. The young man was too surprised to say anything, but minutes later, his three companions ‘mooned’ us from the back seat. I don’t know whether the youths came from the bottom of the social pyramid, but my grandmother did observe that their car was considerably cleaner than mine and that the offender was wearing a sleeveless ‘wifebeater’ T-shirt. We also spotted a tattoo on one bare buttock.Kathy WaltonChorleywood, Hertfordshire

When Groucho laughed

Sir: Ian Thomson’s celebration of the ‘Marx men’ (Arts, 10 January) brought back to me the only moment when I ever saw Groucho crack up laughing on his You Bet Your Life quiz show. The lady contestant was longing for her husband to leave the army, saying, ‘My dream is to see him standing by the bed holding his discharge in his hand.’John McCarthyGeneva

More about yourself

Sir: I was glad to find a sympathiser in Mark Mason over something that has been irritating me for some time (‘Get over yourself’, 10 January). I wonder whether Mr Mason has experienced this ‘corporate’ speak being used by train guards as much as I have? Perhaps the worst recent offender was the guard on a train from King’s Cross who kindly proclaimed, ‘So if myself or any of my colleagues can be of assistance to yourself please don’t hesitate to stop us as we pass through the train.’Will TrotmanLondon SW6

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9419932/spectator-letters-islam-and-the-roots-of-radicalism/feed/017 January 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9416882/letters-310/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9416882/letters-310/#commentsThu, 15 Jan 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9416882No Stitch Up Dear Qanta: Our names are Andrew O’Keefe and Monique Wright, and we were the hosts who interviewed you on Weekend Sunrise. We were also partially behind the… Read more

Dear Qanta: Our names are Andrew O’Keefe and Monique Wright, and we were the hosts who interviewed you on Weekend Sunrise. We were also partially behind the decision to invite you on to our show, having read about and admired your work for some time. It is with great sadness, and some surprise, that we now read your article “A Muslim’s Ambush: How I was stitched up by Australian breakfast TV”.

We both recall very fondly that you took the time, on the day, to remark upon the very pleasing content and conduct of the interview in question. As you said in the interview itself, it was “refreshing”. And indeed, anyone who watches the interview could only conclude that we were very sympathetic to your points about Islamism, very interested in exploring the profound ethical and humanitarian collaboration between doctors of different backgrounds at Hadassah, and very open to your discussion of Israel as a liberal pluralistic nation.

Your suggestions that you were somehow set up as a stooge, that you were in any way “ambushed” or exploited, or that our producer Iman had anything other than your best interests at heart in constructing the segment, are completely false. We have known and worked with Iman for some time now, and she is a woman of the highest integrity and the most inquiring disposition. We also know that our segment producer Roy was never asked by the intermediary at the Israeli Embassy (through whom the interview was organized) to provide you with any questions prior to the day of the interview. Though, given that you were in Australia to promote Project Rozana for Hadassah, and given your very public stance on Islamism, it was more than reasonable to expect that the interview would centre on those topics, which is precisely what it did. What’s more, it did so in a way that was extremely sympathetic to you and the Project and which gave great exposure for your work and your views. (Please also note that the “Maddy” to whom you referred in your article was not a producer, as you state, but our guest-greeter. She has no involvement in the construction of the segments.)

Your objection to the segment appears largely to be centred around the overlay footage of the Gaza conflict which accompanied some of your responses. Some of the footage we used showed children in Palestinian hospitals without referencing the conflict at all. Other parts of the footage was, perhaps, too bluntly illustrative of tensions between Muslim and Jewish populations in Israel and Palestine, on which so much of the Islamist hostility you discussed is based. And admittedly, we did use some footage that was inappropriate to what you were discussing at the exact moment it was played, but was very illustrative of what had been discussed prior to its display i.e. the grave injuries, both psychological and physical, sustained by children as a result of ongoing conflicts between Israel and Palestine. This was merely an issue of timing and was in no way intended to cast you as “tool serving the malignant media construct of a two-dimensional anti-Semitic caricature of Zionism”. There was nothing “deliberate” or “opportunistic” about it. As a “veteran media commentator” you must know that, from time to time, especially when the hosts veer off script to follow a particular train of thought of the guest, the wrong vision goes up at the wrong time. For that, I apologise. It was sloppy work on our part that had the unintended effect of detracting from the excellent point you were making.

But taken as a whole, we cannot see how any reasonable person could argue that we exploited you in any way. Indeed, the comments from our viewers afterwards demonstrated that your position was taken for exactly what it is. To suggest that we came with any agenda, either designed to promote Hamas or to debase you, is insulting in the extreme. It also shows an absence of inquiry into our long record of promoting reasoned discussion, even when the tone of that discussion cuts across the prevailing orthodoxies. I encourage all readers of your article to watch the segment and judge for themselves:

Finally, we are perplexed that a person of your high ethical standards would see fit to publish this article without first raising your concerns with our production. To impugn our show and our staff publicly and in such a hostile and defamatory fashion based solely on your own preconceptions about supposed media bias is plainly unethical.

We have here apologized for our mistake. You should seriously consider apologizing for your baseless and libelous comments against our staff.

Having said that, we continue to admire your work very much, and we wish you every success with Project Rozana in future. For our part, we will continue to promote a nuanced view of Israel and the Israel-Palestine conflict, as well as to de-couple Islam from Islamism in all our reportage, as we have always sought to do. Yours,Andrew O’Keefe & Monique Wright
Weekend Sunrise
Seven Network, Australia

Sad professor

Sir: Toby Young has uncharacteristically failed to recognise that the Turing of The Imitation Game is a new example of the time-honoured mad professor (‘Autism and the Turing fallacy’, 10 January). We see this type in the endless repeats of The Big Bang Theory, in which the character Sheldon Cooper demonstrates all the characteristics of this Turing: rudeness, vanity, naivety and intellectual brilliance.

I note there was also a recent successful TV adaptation of Professor Branestawm, much-loved eccentric boffin of my youth. Then there is Back to the Future, with Christopher Lloyd’s memorable performance as the mad genius and DeLorean-loving Dr Emmett Brown. I don’t think there’s any call for outrage merely because The Imitation Game isn’t as funny as these other works.Wynn Wheldon
London NW6

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9416882/letters-310/feed/017 January 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9414492/spectator-letters-a-gps-cry-of-distress-and-a-defence-of-stephen-hawking/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9414492/spectator-letters-a-gps-cry-of-distress-and-a-defence-of-stephen-hawking/#commentsThu, 15 Jan 2015 04:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9414492Dreadful treatment Sir: I worked as a GP through the Thatcher, Major, Blair, and Brown eras, apart from a spell as an A&E doctor, and never experienced such a depressing… Read more

Sir: I worked as a GP through the Thatcher, Major, Blair, and Brown eras, apart from a spell as an A&E doctor, and never experienced such a depressing and worrying time for the NHS as now (‘Wrong diagnosis’, 10 January). There was frequently strain on the service from underfunding, but not the crisis we are now experiencing across the country, proving to me fundamental mismanagement and policy errors.

When this government finally revealed its NHS ‘reforms’, which were kept quiet before the 2010 election, I was convinced the health service was under great threat, and that the electorate was being deviously misled. This crisis was predicted in the risk register, which Andrew Lansley refused to publish. It is a direct result of the cuts, closures, mergers, reduction in beds, insufficient staff and chaotic management; above all, it is the result of those in charge knowing the cost of everything but the value of nothing. They have been driven by the misguided ideology of marketisation. A study from Keele University estimates that £10 billion a year is wasted — enough to adequately plug the funding gap.

The NHS has been chronically underfunded since 1948, but I have never before thought those in charge wanted to destroy it. If this government is given another term, it will be able to finish the job. The great British public must wake up to what they are about to lose.Dr Paul HobdayTonbridge, Kent

Sneaks on the line

Sir: Matthew Parris worries that we have all turned into sneaks (10 January). I enjoy Graham Norton as well, both as an agony aunt in print and on the radio; but I suspect that the ‘holier than thou’ reaction about whether or not to report to the police someone who has had too much to drink at a dinner party is due more to the type of person who phones in. I reckon if you ask a random 20 Brits in the street, you would get the more mixed and liberal response Matthew Parris was expecting.Annabel von HofmannsthalSomerset

Great men, bad husbands

Sir: All men have failings and great men often have great failings (‘The physics widow’, 10 January). A question that has for long engaged me is whether a great man is great because of his failings or in spite of them. Horatio Nelson treated his wife badly and betrayed the hospitality and trust of Hamilton but was undoubtedly a very great man. Would that vision, courage and singleness of purpose which made him a superb leader of men have been possible if he had set a higher priority on being a caring and faithful husband? Is this a conflict sited deep in male psychology?

I am afraid great men seem often to fall short of Tanya Gold’s standards and perhaps Stephen Hawking is one of them; but could he have been other than he is?Revd John LeaworthyColchester

Sad professor

Sir: Toby Young has uncharacteristically failed to recognise that the Turing of The Imitation Game is a new example of the time-honoured mad professor (‘Autism and the Turing fallacy’, 10 January). We see this type in the endless repeats of The Big Bang Theory, in which the character Sheldon Cooper demonstrates all the characteristics of this Turing: rudeness, vanity, naivety and intellectual brilliance.

I note there was also a recent successful TV adaptation of Professor Branestawm, much-loved eccentric boffin of my youth. Then there is Back to the Future, with Christopher Lloyd’s memorable performance as the mad genius and DeLorean-loving Dr Emmett Brown. I don’t think there’s any call for outrage merely because The Imitation Game isn’t as funny as these other works.Wynn WheldonLondon NW6

Talking Irish

Sir: Perhaps Mark Mason’s call centre operative was Irish (‘Get over yourself’, 10 January). We use that expression all the time and it wouldn’t be noticed at all here. Our use of the word comes from the Irish language, as we say ‘tu fein’ (yourself) and ‘me fein’ (myself). British readers will be familiar with Sinn Fein (ourselves). Perhaps himself should get out more.Dómhnall CaseyKilliney, Dublin

The crux of the matter

Sir: Tim Hudson (Letters, 10 January) need not worry about any English invasion of Tuscany. Depictions of the Resurrection in western art frequently show the Risen Christ holding a white pennant that flutters from a long cross-shaped pole (crux longa) that has a red cross at the staff end of it. The device symbolises the shed blood of the dead Jesus and the purity of the Risen Lord of Easter, and has nothing to do with the military martyr Saint George, nor indeed with the Church of England.

The image can be found on the altarpieces carved from Nottingham alabaster in the 14th century, but perhaps the most exhilarating picture is that provided by Titian for the triptych on the high altar of St Nazaro and St Celso in Brescia in which the wind fluttering through the flag speaks powerfully of the force of the Holy Spirit.Father Nicholas CranfieldLondon SE3

Top names

Sir: Nicky Haslam’s reference to the exoticism of American female names (Diary, 10 January) calls to mind the reminiscences of the science fiction writer Frederik Pohl. Following his induction into the US Army in 1943, Pohl spent a lot of time playing golf with (and being regularly beaten by) ‘a very fine-looking and highly smart blonde divorcee from Florida named Zenobia Qualls Grizzard’.Sebastian RobinsonGlasgow

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9414492/spectator-letters-a-gps-cry-of-distress-and-a-defence-of-stephen-hawking/feed/110 January 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9411792/australian-letters-11/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9411792/australian-letters-11/#commentsThu, 08 Jan 2015 03:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9411792No Christmas Sir: To follow up on Chris Ashton’s ‘the real War on Christmas’ (Spec Aus Christmas Special) might I provide support for his article in so far as the… Read more

Sir: To follow up on Chris Ashton’s ‘the real War on Christmas’ (Spec Aus Christmas Special) might I provide support for his article in so far as the email I received from my CBA relationship banker? The message contained in said email was a contorted affair: ‘as we approach the holiday period I just wanted to take the opportunity on behalf of [myself] and the Commonwealth Bank to wish you and your loved ones a safe and festive season…’

No mention of Christmas, even though the omission was glaring. I replied to my banker with ‘thanks [...], but you don’t have to skirt around using Christmas, it’s not an offensive word!’ He replied that he agreed but that non-use of the word Christmas was CBA policy.

What a shame that a happy and joyous time of the year is now deemed offensive to others, where no offence is takenMathew WilsonAdelaide, South Australia

Foreign affairs

Sir: Isn’t it thrilling to read Foreign Minister Julie Bishop had such an enjoyable time in Peru (Spectator Lima Diary 03.01.15) and saw fit to drop $200M of taxpayer funds into what many of us believe is a useless exercise i.e. the Green Climate Fund.

Unfortunately, I am one of a growing number of punters who happen to have noticed temperatures haven’t been rising and virtually all predictions of climate doom have come to nothing.

Perhaps the Foreign Minister didn’t have a chance to read The Institute of Public Affairs masterly book Climate Change The Facts 2014, sent to all MPs during December. This publication presents solid scientific facts from a diverse range of appropriately qualified and independent scientists which, funnily enough, explain why nothing has happened to temperatures and why the gloomy predictions of alarmists/warmists have become no more than an expensive joke.

Maybe one day the climate change (formerly global warming) wake up call will hit the political/bureaucratic/media classes. Until then, more waste and mis-allocation of resources and, of course, more glamorous talkfests attended by foreign ministers and their fellow junketeers.Chris Harrington
St Ives NSW

This turbulent surgeon

Sir: I have taken Meirion Thomas to task before in your letters pages, saying that since one third of NHS professional staff are immigrants, it would seem churlish to deny health visitors access to the very doctors we have poached from them.

Meirion Thomas is not a whistle-blower (‘Bitter medicine’, 3 January) — he has not told us anything that our own prejudices haven’t already informed us of. And quite rightly he is being encouraged by his colleagues to zip it. Is there any business, let alone political party, that would tolerate such pointless, if not divisive, mudslinging from within?Dr Tom Roberts
Derby

Medical cover-ups

Sir: Freddy Gray’s piece on Meirion Thomas last week is a worrying reminder that medicine, despite its dependence on scientific truth, still hides truths of other sorts when they prove inconvenient or embarrassing.

Forty years ago a pig-farmer friend visited his wife and newborn baby in a local hospital, where there had been an outbreak of a ‘mystery illness’. To one side my friend noticed an empty drug bottle and remarked within the hearing of medical staff that the drug concerned was that prescribed by his vet for E. coli in pigs. Within moments he was bundled into a nearby linen store and told that he had to assure staff that he would not discuss the matter anywhere before they would release him. Within days my friends’ baby had died and the hospital then announced an outbreak of E. coli .

The treatment of Meirion Thomas must make us wonder whether, if the medical profession is reduced to dismissing competent practitioners rather than facing inconvenient truths, it will further limit the extent to which the benefits of modern medicine can be shared.Peter Inson
Colchester, Essex

Healthy scepticism

Sir: If there is consensus among the political parties not to privatise the NHS as James Forsyth suggests (Politics, 3 January) let us at least be glad they are currently reflecting the will of the British people. As for whether it is unhealthy, that depends on whether their legitimate concerns over privatisation can be addressed.

The examples of American healthcare, our energy companies, railways and misbegotten PFI ‘initiatives’ show us that whatever efficiency savings might or might not accrue, costs always rise steeply and the poorer get priced out. Everyone gets smart new seats, but a margin for profit is taken out of the pot that could have gone on services. Vested interests and commercial gain easily become key drivers behind whatever deals are set up, to the detriment of front-line service quality. And the ostensible benefit of ‘customer choice’ evaporates when you want a drug the insurance company doesn’t want to pay the pharmaceutical supplier for. So far there has been an unhealthy silence over these problems, which politicians must break if they are to reform our ‘national religion’.Dr Warren Reed
Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex

Burchill’s blanket dismissal

Sir: Julie Burchill (‘Fashion statement’, 3 January) says middle-aged women who ‘make a fuss’ over their appearance have nothing of substance to recommend them. Very often they do, from Margaret Thatcher to Vivienne Westwood to your next-door neighbour (in varying degrees), but that approach means you may never know. I agree slogans on clothing are often trite, dull, pretentious and by definition repetitive, but to shoot the messenger for their appearance before you hear what they have to say is glib and often cruel — a bit like slogans in fact.Simon Lapthorn
Camberley, Surrey

Bowled out

Sir: The recent correspondence on the subject of the fatal cricket accident which in 1751 prevented Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, from succeeding his father George II as king in 1760, has failed to mention that this was the first known instance in cricket history of play stopping reign.Tim Rice
London SW13

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9411792/australian-letters-11/feed/010 January 2015http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9409422/letters-the-silencing-of-meirion-thomas-finding-the-cross-of-st-george-in-tuscany-and-healthy-scepticism-about-nhs-privatisation/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9409422/letters-the-silencing-of-meirion-thomas-finding-the-cross-of-st-george-in-tuscany-and-healthy-scepticism-about-nhs-privatisation/#commentsThu, 08 Jan 2015 04:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9409422This turbulent surgeon Sir: I have taken Meirion Thomas to task before in your letters pages, saying that since one third of NHS professional staff are immigrants, it would seem churlish… Read more

Sir: I have taken Meirion Thomas to task before in your letters pages, saying that since one third of NHS professional staff are immigrants, it would seem churlish to deny health visitors access to the very doctors we have poached from them.

Meirion Thomas is not a whistle-blower (‘Bitter medicine’, 3 January) — he has not told us anything that our own prejudices haven’t already informed us of. And quite rightly he is being encouraged by his colleagues to zip it. Is there any business, let alone political party, that would tolerate such pointless, if not divisive, mudslinging from within?Dr Tom Roberts
Derby

Medical cover-ups

Sir: Freddy Gray’s piece on Meirion Thomas last week is a worrying reminder that medicine, despite its dependence on scientific truth, still hides truths of other sorts when they prove inconvenient or embarrassing.

Forty years ago a pig-farmer friend visited his wife and newborn baby in a local hospital, where there had been an outbreak of a ‘mystery illness’. To one side my friend noticed an empty drug bottle and remarked within the hearing of medical staff that the drug concerned was that prescribed by his vet for E. coli in pigs. Within moments he was bundled into a nearby linen store and told that he had to assure staff that he would not discuss the matter anywhere before they would release him. Within days my friends’ baby had died and the hospital then announced an outbreak of E. coli .

The treatment of Meirion Thomas must make us wonder whether, if the medical profession is reduced to dismissing competent practitioners rather than facing inconvenient truths, it will further limit the extent to which the benefits of modern medicine can be shared.Peter Inson
Colchester, Essex

Healthy scepticism

Sir: If there is consensus among the political parties not to privatise the NHS as James Forsyth suggests (Politics, 3 January) let us at least be glad they are currently reflecting the will of the British people. As for whether it is unhealthy, that depends on whether their legitimate concerns over privatisation can be addressed.

The examples of American healthcare, our energy companies, railways and misbegotten PFI ‘initiatives’ show us that whatever efficiency savings might or might not accrue, costs always rise steeply and the poorer get priced out. Everyone gets smart new seats, but a margin for profit is taken out of the pot that could have gone on services. Vested interests and commercial gain easily become key drivers behind whatever deals are set up, to the detriment of front-line service quality. And the ostensible benefit of ‘customer choice’ evaporates when you want a drug the insurance company doesn’t want to pay the pharmaceutical supplier for. So far there has been an unhealthy silence over these problems, which politicians must break if they are to reform our ‘national religion’.Dr Warren Reed
Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex

Right cross

Sir: Bruce Anderson (Diary, 3 January) is right to recall that England football fans waved the Union Flag when their team won the World Cup in 1966. What he fails to recall is how much their actions were resented in Scotland and, I imagine, in the other non-English nations of the United Kingdom. This was not because of hostility towards the English team or its win (memories of the second world war were still sufficiently fresh in 1966 for beating the Germans to excuse almost anything), but because of the presumption of conflating the rest of us, unasked, with England. The Cross of St George may subsequently have taken on unpleasant connotations within English society, but the other partners in the Union can only view its belated adoption as the correct symbol of England with gratitude.Keith Aitken
Edinburgh

St George in Tuscany

Sir: Bruce Anderson mentions the presence of the Cross of St George in Jan van Eyck’s ‘Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele’ in Bruges (Diary, 3 January). A perhaps even greater painting with the same ingredient is Piero della Francesco’s ‘Resurrection’ fresco at Sansepolcro in Tuscany. It’s always seemed intriguing that Christ here triumphs over death proudly carrying the flag of the Church of England — and in such a Catholic country too.Tim Hudson
Chichester, West Sussex

Burchill’s blanket dismissal

Sir: Julie Burchill (‘Fashion statement’, 3 January) says middle-aged women who ‘make a fuss’ over their appearance have nothing of substance to recommend them. Very often they do, from Margaret Thatcher to Vivienne Westwood to your next-door neighbour (in varying degrees), but that approach means you may never know. I agree slogans on clothing are often trite, dull, pretentious and by definition repetitive, but to shoot the messenger for their appearance before you hear what they have to say is glib and often cruel — a bit like slogans in fact.Simon Lapthorn
Camberley, Surrey

Bowled out

Sir: The recent correspondence on the subject of the fatal cricket accident which in 1751 prevented Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, from succeeding his father George II as king in 1760, has failed to mention that this was the first known instance in cricket history of play stopping reign.Tim Rice
London SW13

Sir: Dennis Sewell’s damning indictment of Ofsted (‘Ofsted in the dock’, 13 December) stopped short of the logical conclusion of disbanding it, arguing instead that the chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, should be supported in his efforts to purge inspectors promoting the progressive educational agenda that the coalition inherited.

We’ve been here before. Chris Woodhead was chief inspector for six years, and despite his best efforts concluded that his organisation had ‘become a part of the [progressive] establishment, and arguably the most lethal part…’. Wilshaw has been chief inspector for almost three years, and apparently is only just discovering the extent to which his inspectors are still promoting fashionable dogma.

Even if it were possible to find inspectors with the will to restore knowledge as the central tenet of education, we will never reform schools by treating teachers as dimwits whose every move must be monitored; nor will we attract enough talented graduates into the profession. Arguably, Ofsted is the major factor in excessive teacher workload — the issue which fatally undermined Michael Gove. With modern computer adaptive tests, it is possible to objectively measure what pupils have learned for a fraction of the £168 million it took to maintain Ofsted last year, and at the same time leave teachers the freedom to teach as they see fit.Prof Tom Burkard
Easton, Norwich

High-speed relief

Sir: Melissa Kite describes graphically the dreadful predicament her parents find themselves in because their house lies on the projected route of HS2 (‘How HS2 blights lives’, 6 December). Their experience must be replicated whenever a railway, road or runway is proposed. The answer is not to stop building, but to ensure that fair compensation is offered, from the time the proposals are floated. Any project which does not include adequate provision for compensation is undercosted, and Parliament should hold the government to account on this. If it cannot, the courts must.

On the other side of the coin, George Osborne argues that a project such as HS2 is an engine of economic growth. It follows therefore that some people will enjoy enhanced profits as a result, but we have not yet developed the techniques for identifying these gains or recouping some of them to offset the compensation. This could be done through a tax on increased profits, or through tolls or fare surcharges. If it is argued that these would make the project uneconomic, then it is uneconomic.Thomas Evans
Wheathampstead, Herts

Virtual commonplaces

Sir: Matthew Parris suggests that commonplace books have declined because ‘we have become arrogant and wish only to provide platforms for our own reflections, not those of others’ (13 December). He should not despair. At least two popular social media platforms — Tumblr and Pinboard — are designed precisely to enable people to record and share quotations, images and so on that have caught their eye. They are a commonplace book for the digital age. If those platforms (or similar services) can survive, then many of us will find — buried among nonsensical cat gifs and ‘memes’ — a record of books, poetry, epigrams, works of art and much else besides that caught our eye over the years. Maybe some might even be tempted to publish the highlights in a limited-edition book.John Halton
Orpington, Kent

Fit for Downing Street

Sir: I read with interest Charles Moore’s comments concerning the ‘plebgate affair’ (Notes, 13 December). It seems to me extraordinary that the opinion of one man, admittedly a high court judge, resolves the matter. It is quite probable that another judge would have taken a different view. Charles Moore refers to ‘fat unshaven policeman’ at the gates. I believe that one in five serving officers in the national force is not fit to carry out his duties, and gets pushed into jobs such as protecting Downing Street. The Commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, should ensure that fit and intelligent officers guard No. 10.Sir Simon Day, former chairman of the Devon and Cornwall Police Authority
Ivybridge, Devon

A lovely voice

Sir: I was sad your contributor Ysenda Maxtone Graham (‘A fair hearing’, 6 December) did not mention Patricia Hughes, the greatest radio voice ever; plummy and po-faced to some but to me divine. I was listening to her one afternoon while pointing a stone wall of my cottage in Wales when she got the giggles. She struggled for a cliff-hanging minute (would she be axed?) until safety and decorum were thrown to the winds and she laughed uncontrollably. It was a wonderful moment.Jeremy Taylor
Gizeux, France

Discomfort by design

Sir: The problems of airport design (The Wiki Man, 13 December) are not confined to air travel. The railways have been subject to similar whims. When, in the 1990s, the remodelling of Euston station was revealed to the public, it was reported in the press that the station was sadly lacking in public seating. On being questioned on this point, the architects loftily replied that this was intentional, as it would have looked untidy.Ken Wortelhock
Orewa, New Zealand

The case for Hollande

Sir: Jonathan Meades’s excellent article on ‘le French bashing’ (13 December) reminded me of a conversation with the owner of a small business in France. When I asked her if there was anything good about President Hollande, she thought for a moment, then said, ‘At least he gives you English something to laugh at.’ Quite so.Richard Hume-Rothery
Churchill, Oxon

Sir, I don’t give a tinker’s curse about gay marriage (Brendan O’Neill 6 Dec.) and am tired to death of hearing about it.

However I do eagerly await the chance of reading all the gory details of the first gay divorce and in particular the property settlement.

Those contemplating such a change in law should remember that under present Australian law if a man and woman even just live together for three years they can be deemed married in some degree in matters of property.Michael ElliottCastle Cove, N.S.W.

Moscow writing

Sir: After months of lamentations from western politicians and officials about losing the ‘information war’ to Russia, a former executive editor of Radio Free Europe tries to paint everything Russia Today does in terms of a ‘propaganda’ campaign (‘Moscow calling’, 6 December). If RT is not inherently bad, it is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, says John O’Sullivan.

Take the sectarian violence in Libya, and the Syrian rebel groups that have now become Isis. Russia Today was reporting on these issues years before anyone else cared to. According to O’Sullivan’s article, when we cover the hypocrisy of US or European policies it is simply to further RT’s pro-Russian, anti-western agenda. Mass surveillance, drone strikes on civilians, police abuse — according to John O’Sullivan, these are all Russia-favouring stories that are only covered because President Putin orders it.

It is disappointing that an organisation such as The Spectator, whichpurports to advance public debate and democracy, has to resort to such undignified tactics to try and bring down the competition.Margarita Simonyan
Editor-in-chief, Russia Today, Moscow

In praise of Russia Today

Sir: In September last year, Russia Today gave me my 15 minutes of fame, to talk about the worsening situation on Ascension Island. There, people who hold full British nationality were and are being gravely mistreated on sovereign British territory, by and on behalf of the US military, whose air base dominates the island, and who would much rather the Brits weren’t there.

It is a national disgrace, and to this day only RT has bothered to run this story. The BBC has never done so. Sky News directly refused — I know, because I tried to interest them in it. Not for the first time, and doubtless not for the last, thank goodness for RT. If you do not like it, then better it. You could start by examining the situation on Ascension.David Lindsay
Lanchester, County Durham

Putin’s nerves

Sir: I have high hopes that Putin’s experiment has failed (‘Russia falling’, 6 December). The country is not only on the brink of recession: it has been there for several months, thanks to carefully crafted sanctions. With the plummeting rouble and the flight of capital, I don’t imagine the oligarchs will take much interest: they will be eating kuchen in St Moritz. What you didn’t remark on was that, at the last inspection of the grand Russian fleet in the Black Sea, Putin appeared to have a pronounced nervous tic. Some psychiatrists have commented that it could be more than that — perhaps an incipient psychosis.

The response of the Russian people in voting for that sort of person, as irascible and barmy as Nicholas I, makes one think that they still crave for the Tsar.William Sibree
Chart Sutton, Kent

Will Ross eat his hat?

Sir: I share Melissa Kite’s outrage at the shadow HS2 is casting over our lives (‘How HS2 blights lives’, 6 December). There is, however, a speck of light at the end of the tunnel. It is the prospect of Ross Clark fulfilling his repeated pledge to eat his hat in the dining car of the first HS2 train out of Euston. It is worrying when even seasoned commentators continue to underestimate the fiscal irresponsibility of our political class.Marilyn Fletcher
Great Missenden, Bucks

Game changer

Sir: The Barometer column (6 December) features the death of Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, in 1751 after a blow from a cricket ball. It might also have mentioned the consequential accession to the throne of his son on the death of George II in 1760.

George III was introverted, petulant and had ambitions to reassert the constitutional rights his grandfather had allowed to lie dormant. He meddled increasingly in politics as he sought to reign and rule with what was later described by the Earl of Chatham as ‘all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop’. With hideous irony, he eventually presided over the greatest loss of royal power ever experienced by a British monarch, draining ruinous sums of money from the treasuries on both sides of the Atlantic before the colonialists finally established the independent United States of America.

Might all that have played out differently, but for a blow from a cricket ball?Ashley Mote
Binsted, Hampshire

What future for Zuma?

Sir: I congratulate you on publishing the dispatches of Andrew Kenny from South Africa (‘Beyond the rainbow’, 6 December) on a post-Mandela South Africa. As a South African living here, I am often asked how soon it will be before South Africa becomes another Zimbabwe. The test is approaching, for the opposition party is gaining ground, especially among young urban blacks, and will soon reach the point when President Zuma’s political dominance will be threatened. His choice will then be between the strong possibility of jail on the one hand or outright dictatorship on the other.Nigel Bruce
King’s Lynn, Norfolk

More truth about divorce

Sir: Rod Liddle has confronted inconvenient and painful truths head on (‘What you’re not allowed to say about divorce’, 29 November). As a teacher, I tried to help a number of children, from all points on the socio-economic spectrum, whose families were falling apart. I soon realised that the only people who are obliged to concern themselves with the children all the time are the parents. Anyone else could go on holiday or change jobs.

But divorce means that parents can absent themselves too, without consideration of the views of the other parent, or of the children, who of course cannot themselves walk away. Rearing children is the most demanding project imaginable. Why should any parent be allowed to walk away unchallenged, not only from a dependent child, but also from the other parent, who requires support, encouragement and help?Peter Inson
Colchester, Essex

The tyranny of screens

Sir: K.J. Lamb’s cartoon depicting the dystopia of everyone being focused on some handheld device is all too true (6 December, page 62). At least it is true of New York, where I find myself for a few days. The lobby, coffee bar and restaurant of my pleasant hotel all resemble busy cyber cafés. Conversations occur from time to time, but the screen in the hand is the main focus. Even at the theatre on Broadway I was surrounded by active tweeters in silent mode, faces eerily illuminated by the glow of their phones, while Glenn Close and Lindsay Duncan acted their hearts out. Whatever next?Dr Alan Rodger
Glasgow

Voices with soul

Sir: Ysenda Maxtone Graham makes a fair point, that a beautiful voice draws attention to the words. As someone who has spent my adult life teaching voice techniques, I can say that the actors who have beautiful voices speak from their very being. Think of Richard Burton’s — rich, soulful and magnificent. It’s the business of uncovering that which is essentially there in all of us, the greatest gift we have.Neville Wortman
London W4

We’re not chippy

Sir: As the prospective Conservative MP for Bristol East, I agree with Kit Wilson on the city’s ‘vast potential’ (‘The trouble with Bristol’, 29 November). I do not agree, however, that the city has a chip on its shoulder. Bristol is an independent and entrepreneurial city, with more than 70 per cent of our shops, restaurants, pubs and hairdressers independently run. We have a history of success in micro-electronics, aerospace and creative industries, and it has just been announced that a new museum will open in a celebration of Bristol’s contribution to aviation.

There are issues with Bristol such as our stalling transport system and residential parking, but these are being addressed. But Bristol is one of the most beautiful and best cities in Britain with a quality of life that means anyone would be lucky to live and work here.Theo Clarke
Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Bristol East

Civilisation needs faith

Sir: Matthew Parris asks if we are heading for a new barbarism (‘Signs that the virtual mob is starting to rule’, 29 November). Alasdair MacIntyre answered this question 25 years ago in his book After Virtue: it’s already here. The barbarians in our own dark age, he suggests, are ‘not waiting beyond the frontiers; they have already been governing us for quite some time’. Both men would accept that culture and civility need defending, but both concepts are diminished when faith is derided. Christianity preserved western civilisation through the last dark age; it has an important role in doing the same today.Revd David Ackerman
London W10

Thrilled and offended

Sir: As a left-hander, I found Rod Liddle’s column of 6 December — in which he calls us ‘awful’, ‘thick’ and ‘scum’ — grossly offensive. As a right-winger, though, it thrilled me, because he made some rather brave and true remarks about immigration. I’m now feeling quite confused. Probably because I am thick. Carry on Rod.Philip Church
London W12

Patient rewarded

Sir: Matthew Bell is quite right about the extraordinary impact of television. (‘Fame at last’, 6 December). Years ago I found myself in a theatre bar. ‘White wine, please!’ I said to the bartender. ‘I know you,’ he replied. I said: ‘That’s not possible, I’ve never been here before.’ He rounded up all the bar staff, who stood around me, muttering, before one said: ‘Doctors! You were in Doctors on TV!’

‘Well, yes, it’s true,’ I said, flustered. ‘But can I have my drink, please?’ ‘It’s on the house!’ said the bartender. I had played a patient in just one episode, six months earlier, but people remembered and wanted to buy me drinks!Clarke Hayes
Hastings

]]>http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9399022/australian-letters-10/feed/013 December 2014http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9397852/letters-309/
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/letters/9397852/letters-309/#commentsThu, 11 Dec 2014 04:00:00 +0000http://www.spectator.co.uk/?p=9397852Moscow writing Sir: After months of lamentations from western politicians and officials about losing the ‘information war’ to Russia, a former executive editor of Radio Free Europe tries to paint… Read more

Sir: After months of lamentations from western politicians and officials about losing the ‘information war’ to Russia, a former executive editor of Radio Free Europe tries to paint everything Russia Today does in terms of a ‘propaganda’ campaign (‘Moscow calling’, 6 December). If RT is not inherently bad, it is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, says John O’Sullivan.

Take the sectarian violence in Libya, and the Syrian rebel groups that have now become Isis. Russia Today was reporting on these issues years before anyone else cared to. According to O’Sullivan’s article, when we cover the hypocrisy of US or European policies it is simply to further RT’s pro-Russian, anti-western agenda. Mass surveillance, drone strikes on civilians, police abuse — according to John O’Sullivan, these are all Russia-favouring stories that are only covered because President Putin orders it.

It is disappointing that an organisation such as The Spectator, whichpurports to advance public debate and democracy, has to resort to such undignified tactics to try and bring down the competition.Margarita Simonyan
Editor-in-chief, Russia Today, Moscow

In praise of Russia Today

Sir: In September last year, Russia Today gave me my 15 minutes of fame, to talk about the worsening situation on Ascension Island. There, people who hold full British nationality were and are being gravely mistreated on sovereign British territory, by and on behalf of the US military, whose air base dominates the island, and who would much rather the Brits weren’t there.

It is a national disgrace, and to this day only RT has bothered to run this story. The BBC has never done so. Sky News directly refused — I know, because I tried to interest them in it. Not for the first time, and doubtless not for the last, thank goodness for RT. If you do not like it, then better it. You could start by examining the situation on Ascension.David Lindsay
Lanchester, County Durham

Putin’s nerves

Sir: I have high hopes that Putin’s experiment has failed (‘Russia falling’, 6 December). The country is not only on the brink of recession: it has been there for several months, thanks to carefully crafted sanctions. With the plummeting rouble and the flight of capital, I don’t imagine the oligarchs will take much interest: they will be eating kuchen in St Moritz. What you didn’t remark on was that, at the last inspection of the grand Russian fleet in the Black Sea, Putin appeared to have a pronounced nervous tic. Some psychiatrists have commented that it could be more than that — perhaps an incipient psychosis.

The response of the Russian people in voting for that sort of person, as irascible and barmy as Nicholas I, makes one think that they still crave for the Tsar.William Sibree
Chart Sutton, Kent

Will Ross eat his hat?

Sir: I share Melissa Kite’s outrage at the shadow HS2 is casting over our lives (‘How HS2 blights lives’, 6 December). There is, however, a speck of light at the end of the tunnel. It is the prospect of Ross Clark fulfilling his repeated pledge to eat his hat in the dining car of the first HS2 train out of Euston. It is worrying when even seasoned commentators continue to underestimate the fiscal irresponsibility of our political class.Marilyn Fletcher
Great Missenden, Bucks

Game changer

Sir: The Barometer column (6 December) features the death of Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, in 1751 after a blow from a cricket ball. It might also have mentioned the consequential accession to the throne of his son on the death of George II in 1760.

George III was introverted, petulant and had ambitions to reassert the constitutional rights his grandfather had allowed to lie dormant. He meddled increasingly in politics as he sought to reign and rule with what was later described by the Earl of Chatham as ‘all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop’. With hideous irony, he eventually presided over the greatest loss of royal power ever experienced by a British monarch, draining ruinous sums of money from the treasuries on both sides of the Atlantic before the colonialists finally established the independent United States of America.

Might all that have played out differently, but for a blow from a cricket ball?Ashley Mote
Binsted, Hampshire

What future for Zuma?

Sir: I congratulate you on publishing the dispatches of Andrew Kenny from South Africa (‘Beyond the rainbow’, 6 December) on a post-Mandela South Africa. As a South African living here, I am often asked how soon it will be before South Africa becomes another Zimbabwe. The test is approaching, for the opposition party is gaining ground, especially among young urban blacks, and will soon reach the point when President Zuma’s political dominance will be threatened. His choice will then be between the strong possibility of jail on the one hand or outright dictatorship on the other.Nigel Bruce
King’s Lynn, Norfolk

More truth about divorce

Sir: Rod Liddle has confronted inconvenient and painful truths head on (‘What you’re not allowed to say about divorce’, 29 November). As a teacher, I tried to help a number of children, from all points on the socio-economic spectrum, whose families were falling apart. I soon realised that the only people who are obliged to concern themselves with the children all the time are the parents. Anyone else could go on holiday or change jobs.

But divorce means that parents can absent themselves too, without consideration of the views of the other parent, or of the children, who of course cannot themselves walk away. Rearing children is the most demanding project imaginable. Why should any parent be allowed to walk away unchallenged, not only from a dependent child, but also from the other parent, who requires support, encouragement and help?Peter Inson
Colchester, Essex

The tyranny of screens

Sir: K.J. Lamb’s cartoon depicting the dystopia of everyone being focused on some handheld device is all too true (6 December, page 62). At least it is true of New York, where I find myself for a few days. The lobby, coffee bar and restaurant of my pleasant hotel all resemble busy cyber cafés. Conversations occur from time to time, but the screen in the hand is the main focus. Even at the theatre on Broadway I was surrounded by active tweeters in silent mode, faces eerily illuminated by the glow of their phones, while Glenn Close and Lindsay Duncan acted their hearts out. Whatever next?Dr Alan Rodger
Glasgow

Voices with soul

Sir: Ysenda Maxtone Graham makes a fair point, that a beautiful voice draws attention to the words. As someone who has spent my adult life teaching voice techniques, I can say that the actors who have beautiful voices speak from their very being. Think of Richard Burton’s — rich, soulful and magnificent. It’s the business of uncovering that which is essentially there in all of us, the greatest gift we have.Neville Wortman
London W4

We’re not chippy

Sir: As the prospective Conservative MP for Bristol East, I agree with Kit Wilson on the city’s ‘vast potential’ (‘The trouble with Bristol’, 29 November). I do not agree, however, that the city has a chip on its shoulder. Bristol is an independent and entrepreneurial city, with more than 70 per cent of our shops, restaurants, pubs and hairdressers independently run. We have a history of success in micro-electronics, aerospace and creative industries, and it has just been announced that a new museum will open in a celebration of Bristol’s contribution to aviation.

There are issues with Bristol such as our stalling transport system and residential parking, but these are being addressed. But Bristol is one of the most beautiful and best cities in Britain with a quality of life that means anyone would be lucky to live and work here.Theo Clarke
Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Bristol East

Civilisation needs faith

Sir: Matthew Parris asks if we are heading for a new barbarism (‘Signs that the virtual mob is starting to rule’, 29 November). Alasdair MacIntyre answered this question 25 years ago in his book After Virtue: it’s already here. The barbarians in our own dark age, he suggests, are ‘not waiting beyond the frontiers; they have already been governing us for quite some time’. Both men would accept that culture and civility need defending, but both concepts are diminished when faith is derided. Christianity preserved western civilisation through the last dark age; it has an important role in doing the same today.Revd David Ackerman
London W10

Thrilled and offended

Sir: As a left-hander, I found Rod Liddle’s column of 6 December — in which he calls us ‘awful’, ‘thick’ and ‘scum’ — grossly offensive. As a right-winger, though, it thrilled me, because he made some rather brave and true remarks about immigration. I’m now feeling quite confused. Probably because I am thick. Carry on Rod.Philip Church
London W12

Patient rewarded

Sir: Matthew Bell is quite right about the extraordinary impact of television. (‘Fame at last’, 6 December). Years ago I found myself in a theatre bar. ‘White wine, please!’ I said to the bartender. ‘I know you,’ he replied. I said: ‘That’s not possible, I’ve never been here before.’ He rounded up all the bar staff, who stood around me, muttering, before one said: ‘Doctors! You were in Doctors on TV!’

‘Well, yes, it’s true,’ I said, flustered. ‘But can I have my drink, please?’ ‘It’s on the house!’ said the bartender. I had played a patient in just one episode, six months earlier, but people remembered and wanted to buy me drinks!Clarke Hayes
Hastings